Every year, students of HHS are full of anticipation for one thing: Spirit Night. Hours upon hours are dedicated to planning the dance, video, mural, commons display, and more. Due to the high-excitement nature of Spirit Night, some changes had to be made this year to ensure the safety of students and guarantee that all grades interact respectively.

New safety precautions include changes to the way students will enter the gym. Previously, the entrance has been a violent stampede of high schoolers rushing into the gym. Instead of the students from each grade waiting outside the doors of the gym and having them all enter at once, students will now form an orderly line and enter 15 students at a time. Attendees will not be permitted to enter with water bottles, selfie sticks, or food, so water stations will be available in the gym. In regards to the relay events, the unsafe nature of the garbage can relay has resulted in it being removed from the lineup.

The other main problem addressed by the changes is the mean-spirited nature that can develop between different grades.

“Spirit Night is not about negativity or disrespect,” principal Karen Bingert said in an email to the student body. “Spirit Night is about pride in self, grade, and school.”

In order to combat the negativity, new restrictions have been placed on the event, specifically the video and the dance. Any stereotypes or references to specific students and personal situations will be prohibited as well as the  inclusion of inside jokes. Both the videos and class dances must be approved by all class advisers.

The purpose of the change is to make Spirit Night more enjoyable overall, and to make the night pleasant and memorable for all involved.

“Spirit Night is about positivity, class pride, Raider pride, and everything that is good about HHS!” Bingert said.