High schools in the Inland Empire are trying to keep students involved and ease their stress during this tough time by having online spirit weeks. Summit High School first came up with the idea to hold a virtual spirit week and sent it to other high school student leaders for students to participate. Rialto High School decided to join Summit with their themed days and then Rialto High continued with their own spirit days.
This week is Student Mental Health Spirit Week. RHS students are encouraged to tag @rialtohs in their posts to be featured on the school Instagram.
Senior Sereya Diaz participated in the first spirit week in late March and said, “Even though it was online it was a lot of fun!” Many students were excited to participate in it because they had something to be included in during quarantine. Since that first spirit week was very successful and many students participated, Rialto High School’s ASB decided to continue the spirit days to keep students involved. Thursday, April 2 was Throwback Thursday, where students posted a picture of themselves when they were younger. Monday, April 6 was The Great Rialto Bake Off, where students posted a picture of their cooking creation.
ASB also created a larger virtual event for Knightchella. Since 2016 Knightchella has been an event where all grade level students are welcomed to show off their talents such as dancing, singing, and/or playing instruments for the rest of the student body. Every year the event is successful and fun. In the virtual Knightchella students recorded themselves and sent their videos in. This way students were entertained by watching their friends and peers, without risking their health. After all the videos were collected ASB created artwork to attempt to mimic the vibe and vibrant feeling the actual event provides. There was also a spirit week to go with the virtual Knightchella.
When asked about Knightchella, Senior Kassandra Arellano shared, “I like the idea of virtual events and they’re fun but I’m upset we can’t have the real thing.” The virtual Knightchella was a success as students from all grades participated by posting and sharing stories. This event was the first big virtual event for ASB however, there will be more virtual events coming soon at later dates.