This week November 20th – 22nd, students at Schechter Westchester celebrated Shavruach, or Spirit Week, led by Student Government. Each grade had a pair of generals, who lead their grades during the week. The grades competed for points, which they earned by winning events and doing kindness challenges. Cards were distributed with various acts of kindness, and students won points for performing them. Every day, each grade and the faculty had a theme for their costumes.
The festivities kicked off on Monday with a ceremony, featuring a reggae band, a trivia game show with physical challenges, and sumo wrestling. Freshmen dressed up as animals, sophomores were superheros, juniors dressed as their favorite TV show characters, seniors were Senior Southerners, and the faculty wore their Schechter pride.
On Tuesday morning, students attended Shacharit Live, a special Tefila service. A group of students led the high school in songs, accompanied by musical instruments, also played by students. During lunch, students enjoyed food-themed competitions, such as eating a fruit roll-up with no hands and eating a donut off of a string without it falling. At the end of the day, Gary the Great – a magician, mentalist, and illusionist – performed some mind-bending tricks and illusions. Freshmen dressed up as future professionals, sophomores dressed as memes, juniors dressed up in groups as part of the annual J-Date tradition, seniors dressed up as their alter egos, and the faculty dressed as the SW seniors.
On Wednesday, the final day of Shavruach, Student Government hosted the Lunchtime Cabaret, a talent show with representatives from each grade performing a variety of acts. Each grade showed their spirit by sporting their grades color with freshmen in white, sophomores in blue, juniors in red, seniors in green, and faculty in black. At the end of the day, the high school closed Shavruach with a ceremony, where final scores were announced. Students, alumni, and teachers played games of bubble soccer, a game similar to soccer where the players competed inside large inflatable bubbles. Each grade and the faculty sang their own original cheer. Finally, Student Government President Ariel Abergel unveiled the winner of Shavruach 2017: the faculty!
The final scores revealed that the seniors came in second place, the juniors in third place, the freshmen in fourth place, and the sophomores came in last place.
Abergel told the Lion’s Roar, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much spirit. I’m so excited that the faculty are a team this year for the first time ever. Between the game show, the mentalist, and today’s bubble soccer, we’re having the time of our lives, and it couldn’t be more exciting.”
By Alyx Bernstein
