National Honor Society hosts successful spirit week

by Addison Maley

Staff Writer

Bradley’s National Honor Society hosted a spirit week from Jan. 23 to 27 to ramp up for Friday’s military appreciation basketball game, featuring fun clothing themes and lunchtime activities.

Isaac Cotter (9) completes an impressive 10 pull-ups with visiting army recruiters. Photo by Addison Maley (11).

Bradley went all out for both old and new themes, showing their competitive side during song and teacher identification games and pull-up challenges.

National Honor Society advisor and English teacher Mrs. Keller emphasizes the importance she, and the rest of National Honor Society, felt “to get [their] name out there… and bring people together,” as well as to help Bradley bring home the Purple Star designation. This award is given to schools who show a major commitment and connection to the United States military, and Bradley is well on its way.

Najat Rasul (11) and Layali Hashem (11) sport their favorite jerseys for Tuesday’s jersey day. Photo by: Addison Maley (11).

Pajama day is a Monday classic, kicking the week off with great participation. Easing into school spirit, flannel pants lined the halls alongside hoodies and comfy shoes. Nima Raychaudhuri (9) shares “PJ day is my favorite because it’s so easy,” and she can just “roll out of bed and go to school.” This seems to be a shared sentiment throughout Bradley, judging by the widespread comfy attire.

Tuesday, Jersey day, also marked the start of lunchtime activities. NHS member Aayush Kumar (11) was excited to see competitions play out, as they’re “a creative way to build school spirit while having fun.” Each lunch period had an opportunity to play “name that tune,” as Bradley Principal Mr. Warfield, sporting an Ohio State University jersey, played a song. The first to name both the song and artist correctly won prizes like a free Chick-fil-a dessert, wristband, or decal.

Juniors Aayush Kumar, Rutbah Kamal, and Krina Patel wear their class color to celebrate spirit week. Photo by Addison Maley (11).

Country vs Country Club day was set to shake things up as a new theme, but was instead canceled due to the snow day. Raychaudhuri shares she was “upset it was canceled,” as she

Each grade level showed their spirit by wearing class colors on Thursday. Freshman wore orange; sophomores, green; juniors, blue; and seniors, pink. At lunch, NHS hosted a teacher identification challenge, where students were shown an old photo of a staff member, and they had to guess who it was.

To end the week strong, students showed their appreciation for the military by wearing camouflage and competing in pull-up challenges hosted by army recruiters. Ms. Ysseldyke, one of Bradley’s media specialists and avid military supporters, feels this week was very successful in getting the word out about the military. She predicts “there’s going to be more continued interest in [the military] as we show students it’s a viable option” rather than focusing solely on college education. She adds, “our relationship with the Purple Star recognition is just the beginning,” hoping that we can continue “to support our faculty, students and parents as both active and retired military.” Long lines of students waiting to ask recruiters questions indicate this growing interest throughout Bradley.

NHS Officer Abby Meister (12) was thrilled with everyone’s participation, as “COVID really took over and limited the ability to share NHS with the school [in years past].” Now that the organization has planned and hosted a school-wide event, she feels this publicity “helped to get us ‘back on track.’” This success is only the beginning for the program, and we can expect more events and competitions to come.

From pajamas to pull-ups, National Honor Society encouraged both friendly competition and solidarity throughout Bradley. Thank you for your participation, Jags.