“Let’s get fired up! We are fired up!” Between the fall sports kick-off, homecoming and Friday night football games, fall could arguably be the best time of the school year before everyone gets bogged down with grades and homework. During this fall season, many students have refuted the notion that Northwest has “no spirit”, and have finally gotten grizzly fans ‘fired up’.
A group of roughly 20 seniors gathered at Walmart and purchased over 40 rolls of toilet paper along with blue streamers to decorate. The group then visited senior administrator Tom Perkin’s house. This was the first of many “pranks” the senior class took part in this year.
“I think if the students are doing it in good fun and are not destroying and damaging things, then I do not have a problem,” Perkins said as he glanced at the signed t-shirt and photo memorabilia hung on his office wall. “I wasn’t offended about the prank at my house.”
The night before the first game of the season against Kapaun, the seniors struck again, this time at rival school Kapaun Mt. Carmel. The seniors once again met at Walmart, gathered their material and said a quick prayer for added humor before heading to Kapaun. The students were loaded with chalk, toilet paper, glitter and a large banner proclaiming grizzly presence and domination.
However, before the seniors could complete their work, a late night Kapaun custodian caught the whole prank on tape and notified the police. The remaining seniors who did not flee the scene were left to clean up the campus, only leaving behind glitter and the chalk writing on the sidewalk. Though the Crusaders did not get to see the prank in the morning, the prank seemed to energize the grizzly crowd the following night.
“The Kapaun game was by far the most memorable game of the season. The stands were filled with such high intensity and enthusiasm,” senior Drew Eaves said.
Soon enough, the junior class joined in the pranking by TPing the senior locker bay before school–plastering their presence in the locker bay. However, their work was taken down before the majority of the senior class had seen what had been done.
“During spirit week we came up with the idea to prank the seniors while we were building our float. We thought it would be funny since they prank schools all the time,” junior Lyndi McIntyre said.
As soon as word spread over Twitter about what had taken place earlier that morning, seniors were quick to retaliate. During advocacy, seniors gather around with rolls of toilet paper and plastic wrap and began wrapping and TPing the junior locker bay. Administrators and bystanders watched as the group of seniors hurried to get the job done. However, the seniors were forced to clean the mess before the bell rang for dismissal. The incident was coined ‘Junior vs Senior’.
“The battle between the juniors and the seniors was the most school spirited we’ve gotten,” sophomore Kennedy Gales said, “since the freshmen and sophomore class don’t get involved that much.”
The majority of the student body finds the pranks to be an acceptable act of school spirit and that they helped promote grizzly pride. However, senior Katelyn Tommins has a different perspective.
“If you wouldn’t want it done to your house, then why would you do it to a school? If you don’t want to pick it up, don’t do it. Even though the prank done to Kapaun was funny, it wasn’t very nice,” Tommins said.
Besides the pranks, there have been diverse themes for the home football games at Northwest. Ranging from ‘hick’ and ‘rainbow theme’, to the traditional white-out and classic blue and gold. This year there has been decent turn out on the amount of student who participated in the themes. With the unique themes this season, many believe it was a great way to get involved and show school spirit.
“Northwest is built on the motto of pride, respect and excellence. A part of pride is being proud of the school you come from. We want our students to accept Northwest as their school. We want to see the same spirit in the crowd, in the building as well,” principal Karen Pickert said.
