Being a student at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school can get nerve-wracking, but Lehigh Valley Academy makes sure our hard work is celebrated. We are a school on the smaller side but our events are nothing short of a big deal.

Last month, we had our yearly Spirit Week celebration and homecoming dance. This exciting week has been postponed for the past two years due to COVID-19 so all students were especially excited for this week. The freshmen, sophomores and juniors had never experienced our thrilling homecoming week. These students turned to the seniors for what the week would look like and were not prepared for the fun week ahead of them.

Spirit Week is a week dedicated to 9-12 grades but is participated in by K-12 students and staff. This week is not simply just dressing up, but a battle of the grades. Every day throughout the week, high school students are awarded points. You can receive points for being the best dressed on theme days, answering trivia questions, or being awarded points from best dressed staff. There is also a hallway decorating contest where each grade decorates its own hallway and staff vote on the best one. The last deciding factors of the winners of the week are a basketball game and most spirited at the game.

The week kicked off Oct. 11 with Dynamic Duos. On this day students could dress as iconic duos, characters or famous groups. The most common outfits were characters from Scooby Doo and Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. The following day was BBQ Dads and Soccer Moms. Students went all out for this one! Seeing all the accessories people brought in definitely gave me a laugh. Thursday’s theme was Punk or Prep and many students switched up their normal styles to try something new. The last spirit day was a battle of the classes. Students wore their grade’s assigned color: freshmen, red; sophomores, blue; juniors,pink; and seniors, white.

On Oct. 14, many students stayed after school to construct their grade’s hallway. Some students stayed until 11 p.m. It was amusing walking through the halls seeing grades come together as one. Students united with their grades for the common goal of winning the best hallway. Our homecoming theme was a “Hallowed Homecoming,” therefore our hallways had to relate to that in some way. The freshmen went with a haunted mansion design, sophomores did Goosebumps, juniors created a junior manor, and seniors replicated scenes from Stranger Things. All of the hallways looked amazing and the staff had a tough time deciding on the winners. However, they came to a decision and the seniors were awarded with the best hallway.

The following day was a day packed with spirit! First thing in the morning, we headed to LCCC for our pep rally. The pep rally commenced with a basketball game with the vampires (students from 10th/12th grade) vs the werewolves (students from 9th/11th grade). I was one of the three girls playing in the game and it was such a fun experience. Hearing your grade cheer for you was such an exhilarating feeling. Students were filled with spirit trying to win points for their grade. They had funny signs about other grades, posters of players’ heads, and flags with their grade’s color. The werewolves took the win and gained points for their grades.

Halftime offered a surprise performance from LVA’s step team, the Soul Steppers. I am a member of the step team as well, so I had to leave the basketball game to get ready for our performance. During our performance we surprised students with three teachers stepping with us.

At the end of the pep rally, the juniors were tied with the seniors and it called for a tie breaker. Five students from both grades competed in an ultimate dance battle. Students cheered for what grade had the best moves and the seniors ultimately took the victory.