As the days counted down to homecoming, the students at 7100 Shore Road showed their Clipper pride during this year’s Spirit Week. With a week-long dress-down following fun themes such as Jersey Day and Country vs. Country Club, Spirit Week was officially back after years of interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

All funds collected during this year’s Spirit Week support Xaverian’s Clipper Fund, which supports departmental and extracurricular budgets, investments in technology, professional development, and enhancements throughout the campus. A portion of the proceeds will also be earmarked to assist families who, sadly, are impacted by the death of a parent. Xaverian absorbs the tuition costs of any current student who experiences a parental loss. 

The general consensus among the student body was that Spirit Week this year was unlike any other they’ve experienced at Xaverian. This year's seniors were freshmen at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, barring them from participating in fun spirit week activities that Xaverian students of prior years were able to enjoy. 

Marco Conti ’24 said, “We really felt the school spirit. It was nice to have a whole week of dress down instead of just a day.”  

In 2021 and 2022, Spirit Week had themes but had students “dressed up,” not dressed down, and with the homecoming game still being played on a Sunday afternoon rather than (what was supposed to be due to the rain) a Friday night. It was not until this year, 2023, that Spirit Week saw student morale back up to where it was meant to be.

Each day of Spirit Week saw fun contests and donations to charitable causes. On Monday, students who dressed down in gold as part of September’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month donated $1 to Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation, a charity that supports less toxic treatments for children with cancer to try and help them have a better quality of life. 

Each day, raffles were sold, with three winners chosen. Monday’s winner received a Starbucks gift card, Tuesday’s a Xaverian bookstore credit, Wednesday’s a Dunkin gift card, Thursday’s Xaverian cafeteria credit, and Friday’s a Xaverian speaker. All proceeds from the raffles went to the Clipper Fund.