NEW PALESTINE — The team called “All Americans” was filled with students jumping up and down while dressed from head to toe in red, white and blue colors. As soon as the announcer said their name, they stormed across the New Palestine Junior High School (NPJHS) gym floor, jumping for joy and screaming at the top of their lungs.

“Let’s gooooo…,” team members shouted.

The group was just one of six different teams taking part in the 25th Annual Spirit Day, a longstanding tradition for seventh and eighth grade students in the Southern Hancock school district.

While the team physical competition was held Friday, the students have been battling each other all year, earning points through other work with the overall team winner announced after Spirit Day.

“It’s so much fun because we all get to come together and cheer and compete,” Kaydee Shipley, a member of the Sparkle Squad said.

In edition to the All Americans and Sparkle Squad teams, the four other groups competing were The Legends, Tiki Titans, Gru’s Crew and The Outlaws.

The teams competed in 10 different events, including girls and boys tug-of-war, corn hole, inner-tube relays, Christmas tree relays and go-cart races.

“It’s all pretty hyped and pretty fun and I get to hang out with my friends,” Emmit Abernathy, a member of The Legends said.

He knew it was going to be a good day when he came into school and saw one of his teachers and team leader Lisa Clouse dressed in Legends red colors with dark black eye makeup and lipstick on her face.

“Oh, we’re ready to go,” he said. “We’re going to win it.”

Seventh grade Language Arts teacher Lori Simon was dressed up, too, but in bright colors just like her team the Tiki Titans.

“I absolutely love this and it is my favorite day of the year,” Simon said. “It’s great to see the kids come together and learn about teamwork.”

First year NPJHS principal Jessica Neill experienced Spirit Day for the first time and said when she first came to the building she talked with each teacher and every single one of them mentioned the importance of the annual event.

“It is something the teachers feel is special to New Pal Junior High,” Neill said. “It’s very bonding for our staff and our students.”

Neill noted while it’s great for the teachers and the students to all work hard in the classroom, it’s just as important to have a day where they can all blow off some steam and celebrate the first half of the school year coming to an end heading into the two-week winter break.

Physical education teacher Michelle Bloomer was overseeing some of the competition and noted Spirit Day is just one of those special days that brings the whole school together.

“I enjoy seeing the creativity of the teams, the colors and the way they come together and just have a good time,” Bloomer said. “We do it a little differently each year, and I think the kids and staff have earned it.”

Things kicked off around 9 a.m. Friday morning with the introduction of the teams composed of the school’s seventh and eighth graders. After the students piled into the stands, members of each team took part in the Mission Impossible Cooperative competition which had kids pulling themselves via a rope to a matt on the gym floor while kneeling on tiny scooters.

“I’ve seen some good competitions in sports, but I’ve never experienced anything louder than this I know that,” school board president Dan Walker, who had ear plugs in, said.

Walker and his wife, Jessica, who is a teacher in the district, both helped supervise the fun-filled competition. One of their sons, Evan Walker, was participating as a member of Gru’s Crew.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s exciting for the kids,” Walker said. “They enjoy it.”

Organizers say it took dozens of parents, teachers and other volunteers to pull off the competition and get things to come together. Spirit Day started 25 years ago when teacher John Alter and others brought the idea forward.

“We were getting a lot of kids not showing up for school before the break, so we started this long ago for attendance purposes,” Alter said. “Now, we’ve got the kids taking part with the planning and believe me it takes a lot to pull this off, but it is all worth it for this kind of energy. I wish I had it.”

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