School spirit isn’t just for students anymore. This year West teachers have joined one of three faculty teams and gain points by dressing for each spirit day and competing in simple, fun competitions.

West Social Studies teacher Briana Jury adopted the idea from her experience teaching at other schools. She thought it would an exciting way to bring the staff together.

“I think there’s an element of fun in making fools of ourselves” Jury said.

Many see the competition as a good way to make Homecoming week enjoyable for the whole school, rather than just students.

“I love it, it’s fun to have the students do the stuff, but it’s also fun for the staff. It brings us closer together” said West Family and Consumer Education teacher Kathy Schulz.

The friendly competition gives the teachers a chance to enjoy high school one more time along with their students.

Wauwatosa West Senior Leon Moore, also agrees that this is a positive thing for the staff to participate in, “I think it’s good that they’re involved in the fun festivities” he said.

Each of the three teams is led by a school administrator. The Silver team is led by Associate Principal Matt Byers, the Green team by Principal Frank Calarco, and the White team led by Associate Principal Lena Patton.

Jury explained that these activities are “just something fun and silly to break up the day.”

An example of a competition would be the mini cauldron activity. Each team member tried to throw a strand of beads into a cauldron. If the beads go in, the team receives two points, if the beads are not completely in the cauldron, that’s one point, and if it is a complete miss, the team member gets an “x” for participation.

Jury referred to these competitions as “stupid fun to just get us pumped up for homecoming week along with you guys.”

At the end of the week one team will be declared “the winner”. Some team leaders offered their team a prize for the winner, however Briana Jury explained that the “prize” is “just the satisfaction of being the best.”

On Tuesday, West Principal Frank Calarco commented, “Green team is in second place, just behind the white team (led by Lena Patton), we’ll be making our move tomorrow.”

Homecoming week is definitely bringing out the competitive side in our staff.