After collecting canned goods, dressing up and competing in a number of games, the seniors were crowned the champions of spirit week at Dartmouth High Wednesday, Nov. 27.

“It was excellent,” said Principal Ryan Shea. “You can feel the class competition, it's friendly banter, but it shows we compete together, but we still love each other as a group.”

Students filled the bleachers in the school’s gymnasium and watched performances from the cheer team and football team before they began competing. Among the games the students participated in were a balloon popping contest and a feather blowing one.

For balloon popping, each class lined up to run across the gym with a balloon secured between their knees. Once they reached the other side, they had to pop the balloon by sitting on it before they could get another. The first class to pop all the balloons won and the juniors took that victory.

For the feather game, students put on football helmets and lay on the floor, blowing a feather across to see who would reach the other side first — seniors took that win.

“It’s my favorite day of the year,” Shea said. The pep rally wasn’t just about class competition, but also celebrating the school accomplishments for the semester, including the marching band’s national championship win and each fall sports team making the playoffs.

“I’m proud of all of our athletes,” Shea said. “This is the fourth season in a row we’ve had every varsity team make the playoffs, which is a really impressive thing for our students to have.”

Students were also joined by the eighth graders, who were there to check the place out before making their decision on where to go next year: “We wanted them to see what it is like at Dartmouth High on a special day,” Shea added.

Seniors Tom Quinn and Molly McKenna, who serve as class president and vice president, were the hosts for the day’s pep rally. The two were proud of their class win and noted they had also won pep rally as sophomores.

Quinn said, “It went really well and it was a great opportunity to be inclusive as a school and really represent the true meaning of Dartmouth High and what we’re all about.”

McKenna said, similar to Shea, that pep rally is her favorite day of the year: “It just makes the day so much more fun when everyone’s participating, having a good time. It just shows how much we’ve grown up with these kids.”

Quinn said senior year has shown the class get closer as they participate in more senior activities.

McKenna said it’s “hitting hard” now that she’s beginning to apply to college that she will have to move away from those she grew up with. 

“It’s honestly kind of hard to remember to take in what we have left,” she said.

However, Quinn said, “Although we are shutting the door on old memories, we’re opening up these new friendships.”