Old Town High School celebrates spirit week remotely with ‘virtual spring fling’

OLD TOWN, Maine — Spirit week is a time-honored tradition at Old Town High School. It’s a week filled with creative outfits, student bonding and plenty of inter-class competition. 

But when the school shut down on March 17 because of the coronavirus pandemic, it took away the eagerly anticipated spirit week that was supposed to start the week after. 

Wanting to find a way to keep students connected while stuck at home, two teachers who run the school’s student council devised a new plan to hold their yearly celebration — a virtual spring fling. 

“It’s a week when the kids really get excited and you can kind of feel that all week long,” English teacher Natalie Davis, a co-adviser for the student council, said. 

Davis and her colleague, Christina Turner, encouraged students to participate during the week by dressing up in fun outfits and posting pictures of themselves to social media using the hashtag: otquarantinefling. 

OTHS student Emma Tupper dressed for the 1950s on Day 4 of the high school’s virtual spring fling week. (Courtesy of Christina Turner)

When they’re inside the school, spirit week is a competition, especially for the senior class, Davis said. “We didn’t want all of our seniors to lose out on that opportunity. [We thought] it could be a really great way to keep them connected.”

Junior Sophie Charles said she isn’t on the student council but helped Davis and Turner with their initial plans for the virtual spring fling. While the teachers ran into unexpected challenges with not being able to see posts from private Instagram accounts, Charles said that she still thought it had a good turnout. 

“It was a nice, fun thing to keep us all together,” she said. 

While everyone — teachers included — could take part in spirit week, it was especially important for the senior class. 

“I think it’s been really hard on a lot of people,” Charles said. I think everyones really upset and we’re all just trying our best to get through it, she explained. 

As worries about the coronavirus pandemic mount, Maine schools have taken extreme steps to protect their students and staff — one being the cancellation of the rest of this year’s sports season. 

[Maine high school spring sports season canceled]

The announcement, coupled with a recommendation from the state’s Department of Education Commissioner that schools remain closed for the remainder of the school year, is a devastating blow to graduating seniors.

“It’s been a really rough couple of weeks,” said Turner, who teaches social studies. “I’ve definitely seen a lot more strain on our seniors.” 

Seniors especially have to cope with the loss of their final high school year — a year that was supposed to be full of pep rallies, spring musicals and a graduation ceremony. “It’s the end of your childhood… so that’s been probably the hardest thing,” Turner said. 

“My heart breaks for them,” she said. 

Teachers, too, are having trouble adjusting to being out of the classroom and away from their students, — especially those who will soon leave school and carve out new paths after graduation.  

“[We] really wish we were at school with our kids. We miss our students,” she said. 

 Even while apart, the teachers and students who created the virtual spring fling wanted to send a message — despite everything going on in the world, they still have each other to lean on.  

“[We’re] just trying to give the kids a sense of ‘togetherness’ while we’re going through this,” Turner said.