Gr. 10 Student: Yash Varma '24
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verything that takes place at St. Paul’s, whether it's a homecoming game or a school drama production, thrives on the spirit of the students involved. For the first time ever, this spirit looked very different. Before I became a Crusader, I knew I had to make the most of my four years of high school. After the pandemic was declared, I began Grade 9 half a year later and I was terrified. My love for meeting new people and creating an energetic atmosphere simply did not seem possible. With the vast number of school activities being cancelled and the unpredictable cycle of restrictions, everything that would have made a “normal” St. Paul’s year (from what I have heard) was drastically different. Since there was only a handful of available co-curricular activities to join, I wanted to be a part of as many as I could. Some of the activities that I was an active member of included the Crusader Newspaper, Debate Club, Human Rights Initiative, Youth in Philanthropy, the Bing Crosby Speech Contest/Paul Herriot Spelling Bee and joining Mr. Comeault’s rendition of the drama program, the St. Paul’s Improv Team (S.P.I.T). Although most of these clubs had to meet virtually, it was the best way for students across the student body to meet and talk to each other. This also helped the new students to create friendships beyond the people in their cohort, and even in the older grades. I began to realize that forming these kinds of connections with other students was important in showing spirit throughout the school, whether it may be a quick “hello” in the hallway or a meaningful conversation. I wanted to try and make everyone’s first year at the school the best it could be. I tried to get to know as many of the other students in my grade as possible, even encouraging them to join the co-curriculars the school was offering at the time. When I look back, school spirit was really demonstrated during my first spirit week at St. Paul’s. While it was not filled with the regular spirit week events, it was still able to deliver very fun activities. One activity was the scavenger hunt, where each cohort was given a list of items they had to find and bring to school. Once your cohort got all the items, you won a box of doughnuts. This was more difficult than it appeared because they were quite obscure, ranging from disposable cameras to a postcard from a different country. After a lot of hard work and searching, we managed to win the box of doughnuts. From this experience, I learned that one of the biggest ways school spirit is demonstrated is when everybody works together to try and accomplish a common goal. Were we required to go through the struggle to find all those items? No. Did we voluntarily choose to because we wanted to have fun and our school spirit pushed us to complete this challenge? Absolutely! Overall, my first year at St. Paul’s during the pandemic really made me understand and cherish school spirit at an entirely new level. Although I was not able to gather with the school and participate in traditional events such as “Winter Sports Day” and “The Walk”, I was committed to actively demonstrate school spirit as much as possible. This made me realize that even in a pandemic, strong connections with students and teachers can overrule restrictions and lockdowns. Even a pandemic isn’t strong enough to kill the St. Paul’s Spirit.
THE CRUSADER | WINTER 2022
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