On the week of Oct. 9-13, 2023, Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) held a special Halloween spirit week, led by the Associative Student Body (ASB), filled with fun costume themes leading up to the school’s annual fall Renaissance Rally.
The themes of spirit week were centered around either Halloween aesthetics or costume ideas. The first day of the week involved a “Ghost White Out Day”, which meant dressing up in all white to depict a ghost. The day after, Tuesday, was “Classic Monsters”, letting students dress as classic Halloween monsters such as witches, vampires and werewolves.
The next two days were matching spirit week themes which both encouraged students to dress up along with friends. Wednesday was “Character Clash”, where students grouped together to be opposing characters, such as Dorothy and the Wicked Witch from the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz”. The next day, Thursday, followed with the theme “Dynamic Duo”, which opposes the previous theme by having students instead dress up as characters that matched. Such as Dr. Suess’ Thing One and Thing Two, and one group going as characters from “Scooby-Doo!”.
The final day of the school week, Friday, was Foothill Tech’s fall Renaissance Rally, which was “Friday the 13th” themed. At the end of all the costume madness, the final theme just involved students wearing a red item of clothing or their Ren Rally shirt provided by Foothill Tech’s ASB.
While this spirit week provided students with dress up opportunities, growing the anticipation for Halloween, there was little student involvement.
Makenzie Gamble ‘26 shared that, “All of the costumes had a specific theme to it … I didn’t have these clothes at home.” She also mentioned the fact that many of the themes required a group, which made it slightly harder, adding, “I don’t have friends who are willing to dress up with me. I was hoping it would be more individual.”
Besides the sometimes lack of participation, spirit week still held up with the students who did wear costumes, enjoying the creative freedom they were given.
Scarlett Palmieri ‘27 commented on the connection spirit week provided her, stating, “It is really fun to have friends at Foothill [Tech] who are excited about dressing up and participating, as the school spirit at my last school was not super motivating.” She then goes on to add that, “[Foothill Tech] created an environment where we felt comfortable to dress up, but didn’t feel forced to do so.”
This October’s spirit week welcomed spooky vibes onto campus, prepping dragons for the Halloween season with the chance to get into theme. As the festivities of the Renaissance Rally and the school day ended, spirit week came to an end, leaving students excited for the upcoming dance.
