photo provided by Grace Cha
Rebellion can take many forms. At Centennial, the definition has come to terms with Spirit Week, with paint on faces, and the tagging. Each year, the Student Government Association (SGA) decides which spirit days they wish to hold throughout the week. However, this year, students were allowed to vote for select days. The 2012-2013 Spirit Week was only 4 days long due to Rosh Hashanah, so students had to be more careful with their choices.
The senior class, anxiously waiting for their 12th year to finally celebrate their 80s Decades Day had already made plans. When the student polls came out however, the SGA announced that Decades day wasn’t going to be one of the days. Senior Ashley Grooms expressed her disappointment with the students’ decision. She has never been a fan of Wacky Tacky day, so she wasn’t planning on participating anyway. “I was a little annoyed at first that decades day was not chosen as one of the spirit days,” Grooms said.
Undeterred, the seniors decided to continue with their original plans. Grooms expressed her class’s views as she said, “Seniors have been waiting to do Decades Day for three […] years now, and I guess we just wanted to keep the tradition going.” She and her friends were discussing the topic during lunch and thought of making some sort of petition to get the seniors to do Decades Day instead. Grooms commented that, “Then somebody made a Facebook group for most of the seniors and the word was spread that way.”
That somebody was none other than Ben Evans, the Vice President of the Senior Class Board. The idea came to him when he overheard conversations of seniors. According to Evans, “There was so much talk between seniors about how frustrated everyone was about there being no decades day. I mean, we had to go the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, but we weren’t going to be able to experience the 80’s? As the vice president of the Senior Class, part of my duties are to get the class involved.”
As the main initiator of this decision, Evans used the Senior Class page on Facebook to create a new poll that consisted of any days the seniors wished to change. Pajama Day was already done, and Color Day wasn’t an option, leaving room for either Twin Day or Wacky Tacky Day. Giving a five-day grace period to account for as many votes as possible, the results came out to be 52 for Wacky Tacky, 26 for Twin Day, and 4 voters wondering why they should switch days. When asked of his reactions to seeing the 80s on Thursday, Evans replied, “I knew once the day was decided upon, that most seniors would stick with it, and not argue with it. I also knew that most seniors were happy to have Decades Day at some point during the week. […] When I saw everyone’s costumes and how they interpreted this special day, I was overjoyed. The loud boom boxes and the cardboard dance floor were a nice addition to the day we all knew and loved. From girls in their cut off shoulder sweatshirts, to guys in their jackets with boom boxes, all the way to Ghost Busters, I would say it was an excellent decades day change.”
Another Senior, Grace Cha, also participated in Decades Day. Her reason being that they had finally become seniors and could dress up for the best decade – the 80s. Unlike Grooms, who had gotten her information from online, Cha had different sources. “I just heard it from other seniors and I thought it was such a good idea to unite the senior class,” she explained. She had no qualms about the news of no Decades Day in the first place. According to Cha, “I didn’t feel mad or anything because I was just glad it was Spirit Week.”
Senior Timi Tinuoye participated because it was just a fun time pass. When Decades Day wasn’t chosen, he wasn’t too upset. “The idea is school spirit, so I didn’t mind too much”. However, when asked if he would have dressed up for Wacky Tacky day, his response was negative, stating that the theme was a bit dull. He found out about the event from Twitter, receiving choices of Wacky Tacky, Decades, or Fisherman Day, and decided on Decades.
The Great Wacky Tacky Day Rebellion of ’12 was conducted peacefully, and whether students chose to don wacky raiment or decades’ threads, most students enjoyed the day. Taking this initiative from the class of 2013, hopefully future seniors will realize the examples they can set for underclassmen.
