Spirit Commissioner: Nico Ross

Decked out in multiple leis, a Hawaiian shirt and a sun hat, Spirit Commissioner senior Nico Ross shows his spirit for the Fall Sports Rally’s tropical theme—just a glimpse into what a dress-up theme could look like for Homecoming Week.

As Spirit Commissioner, it’s Ross’ job to create engaging spirit days for students to participate in by planning themes for rallies that will attract the most participants. The job also involves contributing to planning one of the biggest events of the school year: homecoming.“If I had to describe homecoming in one word, it would be rush,” he said. “I think it’s a rush in the sense that there is so much going on at once and it goes by really fast.”

For homecoming rallies, Ross envisions classes dressing up in their respective themes and being able to distinguish students’ grades by their costume. “My mental image of homecoming is seeing people getting excited, being together and having fun,” he said.

Ross’ goal for homecoming this year is to make it an inclusive week for everyone. “I want to get people to be into [the spirit] and feel like they belong at events or feel like they don’t need to be embarrassed about participating,” he said.

This year, Ross hopes to maintain the level of excitement present in past homecoming years. He also hopes to introduce new games for students and a Rally Cup that will be crowned at the end of the year. “I decided to bring back the Rally Cup as a way to keep school and class spirit high year-round,” he said. “With such a commonly stressful environment, I think it’s awesome for students to have competitions and activities of many types to have some fun.”

As Homecoming Week approaches, Ross recommends that students should participate as much as they can. “Just get out there because that’s what makes events what they are,” he said. “I plan it, but it’s nothing without people taking part in it.”