On October 7th, homecoming week officially began. Students went all out with their outfits, depending on the day’s theme. Spirit Week allowed students to use their creativity and have fun with their friends. For freshmen, homecoming week would be one of their first spirited memories of high school. Throughout the week, high schoolers were able to dress up according to the theme of the day. 

The theme for Monday was Multiples Day, and the group with the most amount of students dressed alike would win. Students had fun ideas, such as dressing up with friends as legos, lifeguards and aliens. Ella Pogue ’23, who dressed up in all pink, said: “As a new student at Berkeley, it was hard to make new friends, but after a couple of weeks, I made some and dressed up with them on multiples day. Having homecoming week as one of my first memories at Berkeley was special.” 

Tuesday was Generations Day, where freshmen and sophomores dressed up as babies, while juniors and seniors dressed up as grandparents. Most freshmen and sophomores wore onesies, and the girls even had their hair in pigtails to finish off the look. The juniors and seniors wore long nightgowns with canes and wigs as accessories. 

On Wednesday, the freshmen had many creative ideas for Character Day, including The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob, the Spice Girls and Mean Girls. Other individual students were celebrities such as Jojo Siwa and characters from TV shows such as The Office and Gilmore Girls. After interviewing some freshmen, they all agreed that the character day was their favorite day, as it allowed them to be almost anything. “I like [Wednesday’s] theme because there is an unlimited amount of options you could choose from,” says Meher Irani ’23. 

Thursday was Professions Day, and some students either dressed up as their parents (especially if they worked at Berkeley) or wore their favorite team’s jersey. As this was a new theme, students were able to think outside the box and be something other than a doctor. Lucia Accardi said, “I really liked professions day because it brought many new perspectives on different professions. It was cool to see how people took their interests and turned them into unique professions.” 

The last theme was Neon Day and would carry onto the Homecoming football game. Freshmen were yellow, sophomores were pink, juniors were orange and seniors were blue. During the Pep Rally, students were each handed a glow stick to match with the theme. To start it off, the fifth graders performed a scene from their play, Grease. However, the highlight of the rally was the cheer stick. As each division competed to see who could be the loudest, the lower- division outperformed everyone with their Old Town Road parody. After school, many students stayed to watch the annual homecoming game. While the students cheered on Berkeley, Abbey Dempsey ’23 expressed how she felt about the game, “It was really fun to watch a halftime show for the first time this season, and I liked seeing everyone in neon. I’m looking forward to the dance in a couple of weeks.” With the spirit of the cheerleaders and the students, Berkeley beat Oasis High School with a score of 42-13. The themes of spirit week were the perfect precursors to the annual homecoming dance! 

 Entering high school can be scary, but the fun themes of spirit week gave freshman the opportunity to express themselves and get to know their peers. The whole class is excited to continue this Berkeley tradition for all four years!