Spirit Week 2016

     Spirit Week 2016 was one for the ages, and I do not say that for effect.  While seniors agree it was the best Spirit Week in their time at Delbarton, even faculty members who have been here for 30+ years have said it was the best Spirit Week they have seen.

      With a snow day on what would have been the first day of Spirit Week, the events were squeezed into three days.  Wednesday’s theme was “Movie Day,” which led to one of our infamous costume contests.  This time around, the champion was, to no surprise, “Mr. Miyagi” from Karate Kid.  Right after the costume contest, Michael Tortorella ‘17 took home the Hot Bites championship.  This year more than ever, the finalists had assistance as previous losers kept providing them water as they shoved the Hot Bites in their mouths.

     Right after, the students dispersed to all the select contests including Guitar Hero, Chess, Ping Pong, Trivia, and Poetry Slam.  Guitar Hero was held in the Science Wing with everyone playing “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N Roses for the first round, while three Ping Pong tables in the Fine Arts Center caused absolute pandemonium.  At the same time, Chess filled the entire library.  It took until 5:00 for each tournament to reach their top two finalists.  At 6:30, Bubble Soccer was held in the gym for the second year in a row, and it was as rough as it gets.  In my first time playing, the object of the game shifted from trying to score goals to just hitting people.

      The next morning, Trinity Hall was decorated to fit Thursday’s beach theme formally titled as “Tiki Thursday.”  Students dressed in bathing suits, flip flops, and tank tops, despite the cold weather.  At the end of the day, everyone congregated into the Fine Arts Center to see the final events from the day before.  The afternoon began with the ping pong championship, in which Alan Chen ‘20 defeated Joe Corcoran ‘16 with ease.  Afterwards, John Paciga ‘18 was the highlight of the talent show as he performed a fantastic self-written piano piece.  During the talent show’s “intermission”, Brandon Gaceta ‘16 defeated Jack McCann ‘16 in the poetry slam.  Finally, the tech guys rolled out the projector for the final event–Guitar Hero III.  Nick Diana ‘16 (myself) defeated Nick Gockel ‘16 in the intense and challenging seven and a half minute Dragonforce song, “Through the Fire and Flames”.

     When Guitar Hero was over, most students stayed and ate from the food truck until the lip syncing battle at 5:30.  The stars of the lip sync battle were Mr. Brown performing “Magic” by B.o.B., Rory Madigan ‘16 performing “Fergalicious” by Fergie, and Charlie Smith ‘20 performing “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.  There were at least 15 performances in total and it was quite entertaining.  The night concluded with the basketball team’s Senior Night, in which it defeated Montville 70-37.  The “spirit” was strong during the basketball game, as there was a student section of at least 250 guys.  Stephen Clapp put on a show for everyone as he scored a season high–42 points.

     The next day, the theme was green and white, and the main event was the student vs. faculty basketball game, with the dodgeball final during half time.  In a low scoring game, the teachers took home the victory led by Mr. Peterson.  All in all, it was a fantastic week thanks to Student Body President Dan Cimaglia ‘16 and a variety of seniors supporting him in the preceding weeks.  Dan worked tirelessly to make sure participation was at its maximum, and it truly paid off.