Staff and students at Riverbank High School enjoyed their first “Spirit Week” on campus this past week, with daily themes and a rally concluding festivities on Friday, Aug. 23. However, the preseason varsity football game scheduled on the home field that night was canceled by the visiting team, citing a lack of qualified players.
With an overall slogan of ‘Bruins Ride To Victory,’ the Monday, Aug. 19 kickoff saw a theme of Pickup Truck and was backpack day, or wear anything red. Tuesday was labeled Jeep day, beach day and wear anything yellow or blue. Limo was the theme of Wednesday, dress your best and wear white or black.
On Thursday, the theme was Military Tank and wear camo, or anything green. On Friday, it was class colors to be worn, with freshmen in white, sophomores in maroon, juniors in silver and seniors in black.
Friday was also rally day, the last period of the school day, with the student body gathering in the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium for opportunities to compete with each class or campus organization.
The senior class got a special entrance, after all the others were inside, coming in through a double column of RHS cheerleaders.
That same cheer squad performed later for the full student body seated in the gym.
The RHS Pep Band played as students entered the gym, then the Class of 2025 posed for their second group photo of the day, at the end of the gym referred to as the Bruin Den. Much earlier that morning, they had gathered at the football stadium to celebrate their Senior Sunrise.
A number of games were presented, the first of which was a ‘surf’ competition, which saw teams lie down on the floor, side by side, then pass a partially unfolded table over themselves, with a team member on it, moving from one end of the gym to the other. Teams included teachers and staff; members of the football team won that race.
Another game played was a version of Whack-a-Mole, using large air-filled, balloon-like hammers to smash a number balloons on the gym floor.
The final game was Musical Chairs, with eight representatives circling chairs until the music stopped, finally dwindling down to two competitors vying for that last seat.
The games had points associated with them, with the junior class coming out on top at the end of the rally.
The main irony of the day, as it ended Spirit Week, was that it normally leads to a varsity football game. But, again, the team scheduled to play here Friday night canceled, leaving the Bruins and their fans with lots of spirit but no competition on the gridiron.
