Friday, January 29, 2010
Spirit Weak?
Spirit Weeks, something my peers and I rarely get involved with. There are many reasons why people do not participate in spirit week events, let it be a club meeting or simply a lack of interest. To be honest, over the period of two years, I have only participated in Spirit Week activities once. Why am I such a boring and "spirit weak" person you may ask? I am not boring, nor am I a dispirited person. In fact, i'm quite the opposite. I just have a different way of showing my spirit. To some people, being involved in Spirit Weeks may seem kind of preposterous. However, it is impossible to cook a dish that suits everyone's taste. Therefore, I really appriciate the time and continuous effort the Student Council members puts in to plan and host Spirit Week Events, and I hope they will continue to do their best. Because many people do enjoy Spirit Week Events. Spirit Weeks, as fun as it may be for some people, is not something I really forward to every month; Nevertheless it gives the repetitive school life some color. And what's so bad about watching other poeple have fun?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Poetry Contest!
Again, congrats to Jisong for entering and winning the Creative Communication Poetry contest!
I would like all of you to enter the next one. Since you have all just written wonderful poems, it will be easy! Check it out here
I would like all of you to enter the next one. Since you have all just written wonderful poems, it will be easy! Check it out here
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Spirit weeks or just another dull week?
Spirit weeks are a fun way to interact with other students in our palmer community and it is definitely important to our Palmer community. In Palmer, spirit weeks allow students to feel like a part of the Palmer community and it also gets students excited about going to school the next day. Feeling like a part of the Palmer community is a big achievement to students especially for grade eights who are new to the school environment. Also students spend most of their time in school learning, so why not make it fun? In our small palmer community student council try their best to encourage other people to participate in these events because it shapes one’s view on high school. For example, many graduates will probably not remember what they did in their period 2- 4 class instead they will remember their club activities and their participation on spirit weeks. Personally if I ever looked back in my high school memories I would not want them to be regrets of what opportunities I missed and the fun that I would have got from it. Overall, spirit weeks motivates students to come to school in a positive way, make them feel like a palmer student, widen their social circle and gives happy memories about their high school live. So here is the real question: Would you rather participate at a spirit week and experience the ride or look back to high school and question yourself “what would have happened if I tried participating at one spirit week, would my whole high school life be changed?”
Friday, January 15, 2010
Spirit Week
Yes, those five days in which we call Spirit Week. Unfortunately, I usually don't participate. Let me tell you why. Honestly, some of the events, or shall I say, a lot of the events, require us to act unusual. Take, for instance, Wacky Hair Day, I think it is inconvenient to spend time making your hair look unusual, and, most importantly, showing people how unusual you can be. Maybe some people like to do that, but I don't. Here's another example, take Inside Out Day, first of all, there seems to be no point in wearing your clothes inside out, anyway, it looks messy with all the stitches and pockets showing out. It's just another way of showing everybody how unusual you can act. This is why I don't participate in Spirit Week. This is why half the Incentive class doesn't participate in Spirit Week. We (as in, half the class) don't like to act out of our moral code. Not everyone likes to try new things everyday. There are lots of people with different personalities in this world. So far, I have only complained about how "bad" is Spirit Week. By now, if you are someone who agrees with me, then, well, Good! However if you are someone who loves Spirit Week, you would probably want to chuck whatever is at your disposal at me. Now, before you do that, let me tell you what I like about Spirit. I said that I would not participate, but I never said that I wouldn't be a spectator. It's fun to watch all those shows they put up in during lunchtime. Looking at all the crazy concoctions people can cook up. It just makes the day less boring. The Student Council did do a good job of providing free entertainment. Anyway, isn't that what Spirit Week is for?
Do you have spirit week? OF COURSE.....
Sprit week? Spirt week? Sprite week??? Spirit week! Exactly something I rarely get involved with. I thank all the people who help create this wonderful event every once and then. But too bad, not everyone is enthusiastic enough to participate. Do you remember the “Inside-out day?” Personally, I prefer to wear my pants with the pockets on the inside and also my underwear under my pants and not showing my favourite cartoon characters. I, as an Incentive student, have two personalities. One, I am a hard working student and two, a gamer addict. Does Incentive have any relationship to spirit week? I doubt it. There are many Incentive students, who are far far far far far more enthusiastic than me, who participate in, if not all, 75% of the spirit weeks. There are just people who are more academically involved rather than showing “spirit” to everyone in the school. Heck, student council should create events that involve academics. For example, they can host a competition of some academic subject. Most importantly, the participants don't have to perform on stage, they only want to join and have fun. There can be spectators but not in large areas, like the lounge at lunch. Keep in mind those are just opinions. Spirit week isn't bad at all. Everyone has fun on spirit week, for spectators and participants. Look at all the people laughing at the lounge at lunchtimes when there's an event from student council. The events are awesome and it is something special about Palmer. We have a group of wonderful students who dedicate their times to make the spirit week possible. Compared to some other schools, we rock. Every school needs something to remember about. This is called childhood memories. All in all, spirit week isn't something we'd all participate in but we'd enjoy watching others do. Yeah... since we are talking about spirit week, we should be having fun so this paragraph was written in a more speech-like and talkative way. The end.
Why not?
Why not dress up for spirit week? Why not have some fun with friends? Why not show some Palmer pride? Many people do not dress up for Spirit week because they are scared of embarrassing themselves, but who will actually make fun of them? Palmer is a relatively small school which is great, because everyone’s friendly and familiar with one another. Some people do not dress up for Spirit week because they think it’s a hassle. Yes, some of the Spirit days are quite hard to prepare for because of their complicated themes, but it only takes 10 minutes maximum to plan out something. Take those ten minutes you spend rolling around in bed trying to sleep, and use them to plan out a superb Spirit week costume! Like growing tulips, a little effort will bring beautiful results. If one thinks that “Oh, even if I dress up it won’t make a difference. Other people aren’t going to do it anyways”, then they are wrong. If a couple of people see you, they might dress up as well, and if their friends see them have so much spirit, they might do it too. Pass on the Palmer Spirit! One can only attend Palmer for five years maximum (for most people anyways), so how many Spirit weeks will there be? When one is done with secondary school, where else can they participate in a school Spirit week? Enjoy being a
Lame Jokes to Spirit Week
“Knock, knock,” I spoke into the microphone that day in the lounge.
“Who's there?” Came a chorus of voices from the Grade 10 student body.
“Kallie.”
“Kallie who?”
I waited momentarily for the words to sink in.
Then, when they finally understood, my fellow peers laughed happily and loudly at the lame joke my brother and I had derived from our last name, “Hu”.
This was me back in the June of 2009 when I stood in front of the whole Grade 10 populace of R.C. Palmer Secondary School. Why had I decided to tell a horridly bad joke to all of my peers? Simply put, I was running for Grade 10 Representative for Student Council. Though it was not the most mature and intelligent way to draw attention to your election speech, it was a very effective one. During the rest of my speech, I spoke of how I wanted to help bring fresh ideas to Student council and it's events. Things like school dances and functions were on the top of my list, but one of the most important points to me was the one about Spirit Weeks. I had often taken part of spirit week back in grade eight, when I was a gleaming eyed and bushy tailed eager beaver suddenly tossed into a pool of high school adolescence; but as I entered grade nine I lacked the thoughtful participation I would usually bring to Spirit weeks. I found myself too lazy to follow through with all the suddenly pronounced and sometimes outrageous spirit days that were advertised in hugely painted posters in the lounge. I found spirit week somewhat of a hassle for I had a busy schedule with lots of incentive homework to worry about. But, most of all, I found that the spirit days were just not interesting anymore and were slightly repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I still partook in the celebration from time to time but there was something monotonous about it. From this, I was given the thought that maybe I should contribute my own ideas for spirit week. I had friends who were in Student council already that could deliver the ideas to council, but then I thought that I could definitely do more in helping Palmer's student body have some fun and show it's spirit (and I mean not just through spirit weeks). So then I stood in front of my grade in June and stumbled through my “lame-joke” speech, and I became a member of Student council. When I was in student council, though, I learned that figuring out spirit week days were actually a very difficult task. There are so many variables to consider about the students, time of year, and difficulty level of each day while trying to keep it creative. Also, it was something that had to have the majority vote in the council. Ideas that are creative and interesting for the entire school are hard to come by and the Student council puts in a lot of effort to try to make these ideas succeed through advertisements and lunch events. Now, I know many of these advertisements are not heard (for example, in the announcements) and that some days are hard for people to do (for example, pajama day for the people who do not own pajamas), but I've seen that if we can get the whole lounge to be bathed in a neon glow from their clothing on tight and bright day, or if we see a sea of raging monsters strutting down the runway on Halloween, or even if we just have people eating caramelized onions and wasabi cupcakes, that we can really join Palmer together as a community that has spirit. And, in the end, this is the definite goal of spirit week.
“Who's there?” Came a chorus of voices from the Grade 10 student body.
“Kallie.”
“Kallie who?”
I waited momentarily for the words to sink in.
Then, when they finally understood, my fellow peers laughed happily and loudly at the lame joke my brother and I had derived from our last name, “Hu”.
This was me back in the June of 2009 when I stood in front of the whole Grade 10 populace of R.C. Palmer Secondary School. Why had I decided to tell a horridly bad joke to all of my peers? Simply put, I was running for Grade 10 Representative for Student Council. Though it was not the most mature and intelligent way to draw attention to your election speech, it was a very effective one. During the rest of my speech, I spoke of how I wanted to help bring fresh ideas to Student council and it's events. Things like school dances and functions were on the top of my list, but one of the most important points to me was the one about Spirit Weeks. I had often taken part of spirit week back in grade eight, when I was a gleaming eyed and bushy tailed eager beaver suddenly tossed into a pool of high school adolescence; but as I entered grade nine I lacked the thoughtful participation I would usually bring to Spirit weeks. I found myself too lazy to follow through with all the suddenly pronounced and sometimes outrageous spirit days that were advertised in hugely painted posters in the lounge. I found spirit week somewhat of a hassle for I had a busy schedule with lots of incentive homework to worry about. But, most of all, I found that the spirit days were just not interesting anymore and were slightly repetitive. Don't get me wrong, I still partook in the celebration from time to time but there was something monotonous about it. From this, I was given the thought that maybe I should contribute my own ideas for spirit week. I had friends who were in Student council already that could deliver the ideas to council, but then I thought that I could definitely do more in helping Palmer's student body have some fun and show it's spirit (and I mean not just through spirit weeks). So then I stood in front of my grade in June and stumbled through my “lame-joke” speech, and I became a member of Student council. When I was in student council, though, I learned that figuring out spirit week days were actually a very difficult task. There are so many variables to consider about the students, time of year, and difficulty level of each day while trying to keep it creative. Also, it was something that had to have the majority vote in the council. Ideas that are creative and interesting for the entire school are hard to come by and the Student council puts in a lot of effort to try to make these ideas succeed through advertisements and lunch events. Now, I know many of these advertisements are not heard (for example, in the announcements) and that some days are hard for people to do (for example, pajama day for the people who do not own pajamas), but I've seen that if we can get the whole lounge to be bathed in a neon glow from their clothing on tight and bright day, or if we see a sea of raging monsters strutting down the runway on Halloween, or even if we just have people eating caramelized onions and wasabi cupcakes, that we can really join Palmer together as a community that has spirit. And, in the end, this is the definite goal of spirit week.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Spirit Week
Every time Spirit Week announcements are made, it seems that barely anybody listens and take notice of the themes that are coming-soon. This seems to happen in most of my classes, but I am not sure about the other classes. Anyways, I am not a participant of the Spirit Weeks at Palmer. Yes, participating in these school events demonstrates that one does have school spirit and pride, but some of the ideas/themes are just "no-comment." I temporarily can't find the word I'm looking for, but picture-wise, it would look something like this: o_o" . An example of a Spirit Day that is "o_o" is BYOB (bring your own banana) day. Even though fruits are healthy and we should be bring and eating them daily, it doesn't quite fit into the lifestyle of a student. What I mean by that is directed to students that enjoy Spirit Week, but doesn't bring fruits to school, compared to ones that do bring fruits daily. For example, student Z hates fruits, but once BYOB was announced, student Z immediately brought one the day of the actual event. It does not fit to Z's regular lifestyle. Well, back to reality. As I have said before, I do not participate in Spirit Week activities and themes, but with one exception. I have participated in one Spirit Day over the lapse of x number of Spirit Weeks several times in the past. That Spirit Day is Blue and White Day. That is the only Spirit Day I am willing to take part in. Although I am not the type of student to take part in these school events, I do show my Palmer pride by wearing blue and white on the day of the actual blue and white day. I am not completely "unenthused," for I do participate in 20% of the Spirit Week days. (5 days in a week; 5 themes in a spirit week; blue and white day being one out of five spirit days;1/5=20%)
Spirit Week
"I've got spirit, yes I do, I've got spirit, how about you?"
Apparently not. At least not to the majority of the students at RC Palmer Secondary. Spirit week is five school days with different themes and interesting activities put on by our very own Student Council. It's fun to participate in, promotes school spirit, and provides us with a legitimate excuse to "forget" to brush our hair or wear that goofy shirt we could never wear on a normal school day. The question then becomes, why does it seem like only a fraction of the school population participates in this event? In my opinion, I think this is the case simply because most people "don't bother." If you're reading this, tell me: Do you participate in Spirit Week? Some of you may sit up in your chair and exclaim, "Yes, I do!" But I'm sure there are some people who don't. People feel it's unnecessary to waste their time doing something that won't benefit in them in anyway (because, as we've all realized from our previous blog, the new generation wants things fast and to the point). However, we must realize that Student Council puts in countless hours not only deciding on the days of the spirit week, but also on what kind of days to have, what activities to have, and they must also make posters and announcements. Who do they do this for? The students of Palmer of course. Sure, maybe in the long run, dressing up as a cowboy for a day of school won't assist you in your future careers. But in two and a half years, we will be leaving high school and all of this behind. By then, we will have plenty of time to do things that WILL benefit us. Don't we all want to look back someday and think, "WOW, I can't believe I did that in high school!" ? Some people may also be worried that if they participate in spirit week, they'll look silly, or people may laugh at them. The best solution: Get a group of friends and dress up together. Ironically, it's the people who DON'T dress up for spirit week that are "out of place." Spirit Week is really Student Council's effort to strengthen friendships and SPIRIT within our school, so let's show our appreciation to them, and show just how much spirit a little school like Palmer has. :)
Apparently not. At least not to the majority of the students at RC Palmer Secondary. Spirit week is five school days with different themes and interesting activities put on by our very own Student Council. It's fun to participate in, promotes school spirit, and provides us with a legitimate excuse to "forget" to brush our hair or wear that goofy shirt we could never wear on a normal school day. The question then becomes, why does it seem like only a fraction of the school population participates in this event? In my opinion, I think this is the case simply because most people "don't bother." If you're reading this, tell me: Do you participate in Spirit Week? Some of you may sit up in your chair and exclaim, "Yes, I do!" But I'm sure there are some people who don't. People feel it's unnecessary to waste their time doing something that won't benefit in them in anyway (because, as we've all realized from our previous blog, the new generation wants things fast and to the point). However, we must realize that Student Council puts in countless hours not only deciding on the days of the spirit week, but also on what kind of days to have, what activities to have, and they must also make posters and announcements. Who do they do this for? The students of Palmer of course. Sure, maybe in the long run, dressing up as a cowboy for a day of school won't assist you in your future careers. But in two and a half years, we will be leaving high school and all of this behind. By then, we will have plenty of time to do things that WILL benefit us. Don't we all want to look back someday and think, "WOW, I can't believe I did that in high school!" ? Some people may also be worried that if they participate in spirit week, they'll look silly, or people may laugh at them. The best solution: Get a group of friends and dress up together. Ironically, it's the people who DON'T dress up for spirit week that are "out of place." Spirit Week is really Student Council's effort to strengthen friendships and SPIRIT within our school, so let's show our appreciation to them, and show just how much spirit a little school like Palmer has. :)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Spirit week is one of the most exciting parts of high school and Palmer. I don't always dress up for spirit week but it is always very exciting to see other people dress up for it. My favorite spirit week day was multicultural day and I was so excited about that because I was going to wear my Indian clothes. Even though I could not wear my suit on that day it was still nice to see other people wear it. I would like to be a part of spirit week more often because that way I get to participate in the lunch time activities. That is another reason I love spirit weeks because of the lunch time activites. Those are so fun to watch and more fun to participate in. I haven't participated in any before but I would for sure like to be a part of one of the games. It also makes me feel a part of the school if I dress up for something. If we could choose a spirit week day by ourselves my first choice would be dressing up like a famous person. That way there is a lot of choice and everyone would look so different then their usual selves and than everyone else. If we actually have that day I would love to dress up as MICHAEL JACKSON!! I just hope we have a lot more spirit weeks because this year we have just had about 4 but more than that would be great so that we a have a lot of variety and if we could not dress up for the first one there is always another one.
Spirit Week!
" Hello students of R.C.Palmer, remember, next week is Spirit Week! Monday is "blah" day, Tuesday is "blah" day, ( goes on till Friday ). "
You have probably heard those announcements several times this year, yet students are still not willing to participate for Spirit Week. I mean, come on, what is there to be embarrassed about? Palmer is a small high school comparing to the ones in Vancouver or other places, and spirit weeks are perfect for Palmer! As a member of student council, I must participate in these events. But even if I am not in student council, I would still dress up. In my point of view, many students in the school are most likely embarrassed to dress up for events such as " Crazy Hair Day " or " Tight and Bright Day ", but if the majority of the school does it, then there is nothing to be embarrassed about. But I can understand that students don't participate because they don't " feel like it ", but maybe just participate in one or two events out of the week. Honestly, I think spirit week is an awesome thing to have in the school. The members of the student council work hard for these events; don't you guys see those big posters? We spend hours working on them! My recommendation: Just try, dress up for one of the events; trust me, it is fun, if not, sorry, no refunds or exchanges but prizes will be rewarded if you participate:)
You have probably heard those announcements several times this year, yet students are still not willing to participate for Spirit Week. I mean, come on, what is there to be embarrassed about? Palmer is a small high school comparing to the ones in Vancouver or other places, and spirit weeks are perfect for Palmer! As a member of student council, I must participate in these events. But even if I am not in student council, I would still dress up. In my point of view, many students in the school are most likely embarrassed to dress up for events such as " Crazy Hair Day " or " Tight and Bright Day ", but if the majority of the school does it, then there is nothing to be embarrassed about. But I can understand that students don't participate because they don't " feel like it ", but maybe just participate in one or two events out of the week. Honestly, I think spirit week is an awesome thing to have in the school. The members of the student council work hard for these events; don't you guys see those big posters? We spend hours working on them! My recommendation: Just try, dress up for one of the events; trust me, it is fun, if not, sorry, no refunds or exchanges but prizes will be rewarded if you participate:)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Spirit Weeks
Spirit weeks are amazing. I love spirit weeks.
It's simple. Palmer is a small school with many things to offer. Think about how busy the school is before, during and after school. Think about how hectic lunchtimes are because there are so many meetings going on for student council, the multicultural club, the grade seven conference... the list really goes on and on. Even after school there is dance squad, Destination Imagination, play practice and numerous clubs. After coming from a school that did not really offer a huge variety of courses and clubs, it's only natural for me to have school spirit for my new school. Whenever spirit weeks roll around I love to participate because, well, the activities are usually fun and it really does not hurt to show pride for your own school. I know I sound like a total "noob" but that's how I see it.
It's simple. Palmer is a small school with many things to offer. Think about how busy the school is before, during and after school. Think about how hectic lunchtimes are because there are so many meetings going on for student council, the multicultural club, the grade seven conference... the list really goes on and on. Even after school there is dance squad, Destination Imagination, play practice and numerous clubs. After coming from a school that did not really offer a huge variety of courses and clubs, it's only natural for me to have school spirit for my new school. Whenever spirit weeks roll around I love to participate because, well, the activities are usually fun and it really does not hurt to show pride for your own school. I know I sound like a total "noob" but that's how I see it.
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