Spirit Week ends with a bang

Janine Marnien

LA CRESCENTA -- A talent show wrapped up the festivities Friday during

the fourth annual Spirit Week at Clark Magnet High School.

Filled with events like arm wrestling matches, water balloon tosses

and lemon eating contests, Spirit Week is the one way the school has to

create a sense of community, officials said.

“This school -- we really need to have a Spirit Week,” Senior Class

Advisor Cynthia Nash said. “They don’t have any of the sports games here,

so this is really the only way we have to get some cohesiveness.”

Planning for the week is a yearlong process. To participate in the

talent show finale, students had to undergo tryouts and after school

practices for about one week.

“This is the biggest day of the year,” Nash said. “There’s such an

academic focus at this school, that teachers don’t like to give up time

for assemblies. So we have one, and this is it.”

It is also the one day of the year when students do not have to follow

the school’s dress standards, and can wear jeans and T-shirts.

Comfortably dressed students clapped and cheered as their fellow

classmates entertained them Friday.

Senior Matt Hahn played the guitar and sang a song he wrote called

“Sensation.” The audience was soon clapping along with him.

“It felt good to hear the audience clap,” he said. “It meant that I

was doing my job and pleasing the crowd.”

The last act of the show featured singing and dancing by senior Frank

Chander.

“Spirit Week is just a time for students to have fun,” Chander said

before his performance. “With the end of the year coming and finals and

everything, it’s something we look forward to.”