This February, the Saint Francis community experienced The Amazing Race: Holy Cross Global as the theme for the Holy Cross Spirit Week. The purpose of this week was to see the value of the Holy Cross Congregation in places across the globe. There was so much potential in the week’s theme, but it sadly fell a little short of what it could’ve been. Now that students have had time to recover from the busy week, let’s look at a recap of this week and see what our Saint Francis students think about how it went.
On Monday, the Lancers started in France where they honored the saying “Ave Crux Spes Unica,” which means “Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope.” The theme for the day was anything but your age as upperclassmen dressed as toddlers, underclassmen as elders, and educators as teenagers. The theme was fairly simple to participate in, and many students rocked pigtails and pajamas or moved around with walkers. The lunchtime activities were the highlight of the day; students were able to relive the joys of kindergarten with a rainbow parachute or get an insight into the future at Bingo halls.
Lancers then kicked off a day in Haiti on Tuesday. Our theme of the day was “As Palman Per Crucem” which means “Through the Cross, to the Light.” The neon dress code followed this idea as students shined bright with construction vests and other neon accessories. Since this idea has been used as a Rage Cage theme, students dressed up with ease. The lunchtime activity was eventful—students enjoyed a silent disco in the gym and rocked out to music from all eras.
Lancers then found themselves in Bangladesh on Wednesday, following the saying “Frogressus in Sapientia et Virtus” which means “Advancing in Wisdom and Virtue.” The theme was wacky dress and had the lowest participation of all the week’s themes. The highlight of the day—and possibly even the week—was the lunchtime boat races. Even though the weather was rough, students didn’t let the conditions stop them from cheering on their fellow classmates. Edla Lahtiranta (’25) spoke about the event, saying, “The boat race was super entertaining, and it was a time for us to come together as a community and laugh at our friends falling into the water.” While the theme of the day lacked, the lunchtime competition was a splash!
On Thursday, students stopped in Ghana, with the message of the day being “Viam Parantes,” meaning “Preparing the Way.” The educators dressed funky for the ’60s, the freshmen groovy for the ’70s, sophomores bodacious for the ’80s, juniors all that for the ’90s, and the seniors so fetch as they represented the 2000s. Lancers were also able to showcase their talents in the Innovation Theater as they performed songs and tricks. Students were amazed and cheered each performer on while they awed the crowd.
To end the week, students stopped in Chile, honoring “Recte Ad Ardua,” which means “Honorably Through Difficulty,” and difficulty struggles to sum up that day. Students dressed up in their class colors for the rally, representing Forest Freshman in white and green, Sandy Sophomores in yellow and orange, Jagged Juniors in brown and red, and Summit Seniors in black and blue. The rally had the potential to be amazing, but students didn’t really feel engaged, as there were too many long pauses in between games and performances. There was a technical difficulty with Mario Kart, which really could’ve brought the classes into the rally, unfortunately the time it took to try and figure it out ruined any energy the classes had. When asked about her review of the rally, Katherine Winton (’25) said, “The rally didn’t feel like it had a lot of energy. I think past rallies had more hype behind it. It’s kinda sad because it’s my last rally at Saint Francis. It could be because it was early in the semester… I know it’s normally in April.” The expectations for the final rally were so high, especially after how well the past ones had gone, but this rally felt less planned out and as if parts of the rally were removed.
Overall spirit week could’ve been better, but it was still enjoyable. The themes weren’t overly creative, but they were easy to dress up for. The lunchtime games were exciting, and meals from each spot were culturally accurate and a nice change in the menu. Next year, hopefully there will be improvements to the rally so students can show more spirit. Lancers can continue to celebrate Holy Cross outside of this week and take the community built this week and move it forward.
