Leprechauns, construction workers, and even teacher look-a-likes filled the halls of CHS as Fall Spirit Week kicked off on Oct. 24 with the HoliDAY theme. Open to interpretation, the theme left students celebrating many different holidays, including St. Patrick’s Day, Labor Day, and even Teacher Appreciation Day.

A frenzy of painting emerged during the all-new lunch event, Pumpkin Painting Relay. The classes were each randomly assigned a holiday theme to decorate their pumpkin accordingly, with the seniors having New Year’s Day, juniors having Valentine’s Day, sophomores having Fourth of July, and freshmen having St. Patrick’s Day. Teams of five painters represented the classes, with members working for three minutes each until passing the paintbrush onto the next artist.

“It was hard because you try to continue from where the other person left off while having such little time, not to mention it is stressful when there’s an audience,” junior Cayla Carlson of Neptune said. “Otherwise it was really exciting and I would definitely do the event again.”

With their Cupid-themed pumpkin, the juniors won the event followed by the seniors, sophomores, and freshmen, respectively.

“Thanks to the talented artists we had collaborating, the process was fun and easy,” Junior Council member Lydia Olivieri said. “I saw so much creativity and innovation that really impressed me and when it came down to it they did not disappoint!”

This fall, the daily scavenger hunts have been replaced by Penny Wars, a week-long competition to collect the most money with the winner earning 40 points towards Spirit Week as well as the money they collected. With pennies adding points and nickels, quarters, and dimes subtracting points, there is no clear leader among the five-gallon containers yet.

After theme participation and event points were calculated, the juniors stood in first place with 40 points, followed by the seniors with 33 points, sophomores with 30 points, and freshmen with 25 points.

Spirit Week continues tomorrow with the Bikers vs. Surfers theme and Fall Relay event.

“I think as long as our grade keeps putting in the effort we have been and keep having fun, we can definitely keep our lead!” Junior Vice President Garrett Stemetzki said.