East kicked off Thanksgiving break last Wednesday with its annual Spirit Week pep rally, an event which celebrated school spirit through music, cheerleading and competition. One of these competitions was the banner contest, in which each class designed and painted their own spirit week banner.

The winners of the banner contests were announced the day before, but the banners themselves were showcased for the first time at the pep rally.

First up were the freshmen, who took advantage of their class theme with a newspaper-inspired banner labeled “The Frosh Herald”. Modeled after the front page of a newspaper, this banner featured headlines like “Freshman class wins Spirit Week”.

Next to show off their banner were the sophomores, who had painted a blue sky, green grass, and two kids looking up at an airplane flying a 2018 flag.  

The juniors brought a distinctly steampunk feel to the competition with their banner, which had a background of silver and bronze clockwork gears and “2017” written in a way that resembled the red numbers on a digital clock.

Finally, the senior banner put a comical perspective on the class theme of “Maps”. This banner colorfully displayed Dora (from the kids’ show Dora the Explorer) driving a green car, along with some cartoony environments like a tropical rainforest, a beach, and a desert. Accompanying Dora on the banner was, of course, her monkey sidekick Boots.

Ultimately, the seniors took the prize for best Spirit Week banner, thanks to the combined artistic efforts of Sydney Steele (‘16), Ally Lazarus (‘16), Robin Brown (‘16), Cassidy Rosen-Swell (‘16) and Hannah Manders (‘16). Freshmen came in second, juniors came in third, and sophomores came in fourth.