Spirit Days at Alexander-Smith Academy

Junior Grace Smith, teacher Ms. Cassondra Demmer, teacher Ms. Kim Garcia, junior Jamie Penn and junior Sydney Freeman (junior)

Alexander-Smith Academy loves to entertain its students in a way that makes them feel like they are at home rather than in a school where stress and anxiety dominates the day-to-day atmosphere. As a result, ASA created two clubs that aims to uplift students by giving them the opportunity to showcase their silliness through lighthearted and outrageous activities.

For example, Spirit Club creates humorous days for students and teachers to participate in days such as Pajama Day, Sports Day and Western Day where they dress up for that particular occasion. In addition, Spanish Club was created to celebrate Hispanic culture and holidays such as Day of the Dead and Cinco De Mayo where students bring delicious Mexican food, decorate the school to give it a Hispanic atmosphere and wear Mexican clothes. As a result, ASA is not only a chamber of education and wisdom, it is also a home where everyone can enjoy each other as they are hooked together under one roof.

This year, ASA celebrated Halloween with students and teachers coming to school all dressed up, giving out candies to the whole school and spooking their classmates during class time with artistic make up. Moreover, ASA paid tribute on Day of the Dead (organized by the Spanish Club) to those who passed away, showing that their impact on their respective lives will not fade away. The head of the Spanish Club, Ms. Garcia, celebrated the Day of the Dead every year when she was growing up in Mexico, and she admits that celebrating the Day of the Dead in the United States is different in terms of atmosphere: “In Mexico, there is a huge parade everywhere and all the families are celebrating and involved. You go to your neighbor’s house for celebrating. In the US, they just dress up and go while in Mexico there is a deeper meaning to it.”

However, students at ASA still enjoyed the deep message of the Day of the Dead. Finding the occasion unique and uncommon here in the US, senior Randolph Diggs said that he finds it interesting “that it is a happy holiday about death.” In addition, ASA students had so much fun celebrating because the activities associated with the occasion. Senior Olga Brunel said, “Its festivities and the culture of it, the face painting and everything that goes into the day of the dead, it’s all so exciting.” In other words, even though it was a sad day for all of us who lost loved ones, our shared feelings and emotional bond connected us together as all students realized that we live under the same umbrella of love and kindness. 

Marcos Genemaras-Cruz, a sophomore, Jack Matthews, a sophomore, Kacy Rosen, a senior, Fatema Al Shehhi, Saim Chowdhury, a sophomore and Ms. Ginger Garrett, a teacher. 

ASA also keeps it light by celebrating its own hilarious pajama day where the students and teachers wear their own outrageous pajamas on campus, giving the school a whole different atmosphere than the usual one. Junior Alex Ambler said: “I literally just rolled out of bed and came to school; it is a pretty good day.” Also, free food was provided for the students and the teachers, making students excited to come to school, a highly unusual feeling for a high school.

As Sydney Freeman, a junior, explains, “I like that we get to wear comfy clothes all day and I love how there is free food on Spirit Days.” In other words, Pajama Day was a day where all of the students and teachers bond together through their silliness and humor, creating a relaxed and warm environment much like being at home.