Carlisle High School’s Spirit Week is typically a week full of fun activities and school pride in preparation for Homecoming, but the lengthy gym renovations put a halt the on this CHS tradition, leaving the Student Council with a difficult situation. This forced them to rearrange spirit week to a totally different time period. This year, CHS’ Spirit Week led up to Mini-THON.

“We really believe in Mini-THON and the idea of Mini-THON,” 9th grade English teacher and Student Council adviser Kirsten McMahon said. “Moving spirit week will bring more attention to Mini-THON.”

Mini-THON is an organization that raises money for children with childhood cancer. For the last couple of years, members of the CHS Mini-THON club have hosted an annual overnight party at the school usually during the spring but this year they have changed it to the fall. Each student who plans on attending must collect a total of thirty-five dollars in donations to participate.

During the seven hours long dance craze, students have the options to partake in talent shows, face painting, and spend time with friends. The night ends when the members reveal the total amount of donations that were received. All the funds that were raised during the event go directly to the Four Diamonds Fund.

Even though Mini-THON may be costly, the events that led up to Mini-THON vary from being a few dollars to participate in or observe, to being absolutely free.

Students of all grades had the opportunity to compete or observe the Dodgeball Tournament on Nov 13. The Powderpuff Flag Football game was Nov 14 and this was another way students could express their school spirit and cheer on the 88 female classmates who were competing against each other while some male students, dressed up as cheerleaders and cheered them on.

“I’m looking forward to coming together as a team and winning my very last Powderpuff game,” senior Mary Grace competed in the tournament Wednesday.

The last event before the Mini-THON was the Pep Rally, which was on Nov 16 in the newly renovated McGowan Gym. This event is a way for students to express their school spirit along with classmates by wearing their assigned class colors. During the Pep Rally, various students participated in challenges to win last-minute points for their class. At the Pep Rally, the senior class learned that they were the class wars champion for the year.

Overall, the unexpected change of events had produced a range of opinions and emotions from the student body. Many underclassmen were looking forward to participating in spirit week this year but they had a few suggestions on how to improve the spirit day for the years to come.

“If I were to change any of the spirit days, I’d change Hat Day to career day,” student Rainna McHan said.

Although underclassmen seem excited, seniors like Armela Ferhavotic were not looking forward to spirit week this year.

“Spirit Week just doesn’t have the same excitement now that it’s leading up to Mini-THON,” Ferhavotic said.

Although the time period of Spirit Week had changed, everything else had remained the same. Students were still able to participate in the Dodgeball Tournament, the Powderpuff game, and the Pep Rally to show school spirit.