Over the last four years, the administration has held an annual Student Appreciation Week celebrating students and their hard work and dedication to their academics. As a tradition since 2020, students can participate in all kinds of games, activities and new traditions to help ease their stressors. This year, Student Appreciation week is from April 8 to April 12, toward the end of the year to reduce testing stress and anxiety.
This year’s Student Appreciation Week started off with a bang: the solar eclipse. Monday, April 8, students filled Chapparal Stadium to experience the eclipse. The event was completed with eclipse goggles and a safety video before the astronomical event began. Also on Monday, students were randomly drawn to win $25, and $50 gift cards to Amazon every period except for first and lunch periods. All students who were drawn got to go to the office to pick up their prizes.
Senior Sarah Smart was one of the lucky names drawn, being the earliest person to go receive their gift.
“I liked the gift card day because I was called to get a gift card and was the first one of the day; I got a $25 Amazon gift card,” Smart said. “With the money, I am going to buy my outfits for upcoming grad parties for seniors”.
Beyond that, 99 other students across all grades were chosen to go grab their prizes, starting off the week right.
Tuesday, April 9 was dessert truck day, which seems to be students’ favorite day of the week in past years. The vendors included Jim Jim’s Water Ice, Funnel Cakes, Mr. Softee, and a Donut truck. The trucks were spread around campus: outside the Chap Court, in the front of the school and the rest by the NGC.
Most students favor the dessert trucks over most other student appreciation days. Students wait in long lines for a limited amount of snow cones, Mr. Softee Ice Cream and everything else that’s offered.
Senior Mirabel Finger talks about her love for the dessert truck day.
“My favorite day is probably sweet treat day because all I do is eat. I liked the Jim Jim’s the best because they remind me of my childhood, and they don’t taste artificial, they taste real,” Finger said.
There was the classic petting zoo Wednesday, April, 10. Buzz floats around the school as students are ecstatic to see the bunnies, goats, chickens, ducks, and ponies. Some animals are still the same ones that students look forward to seeing every year. Students race to the pen at 11 a.m. to see the animals, leaving their responsibilities in the classroom.
The next day was the photo booth and the guesstimate game asking students how many desserts they thought were sold at the sweet treat day
Thursday, April, 11. The photo booth was set up in the middle of the commons with a big background and many props like glasses, wigs, mustaches, and more for students to use.
“My favorite day was the photobooth day because I can keep the memories, especially now that everyone is going to different colleges after the summer,” Smart said.
By the end of the day, all of the guesses had been collected and 125 lucky students won a gift card from Amazon, Target, Whataburger, UberEats, and more for their close guesses.
On the last day, Friday, April 12, students had the opportunity to do another guessing game. There was a spacecraft in the front of the school with a globe filled with starburst and a globe skilled with Lifesaver Mints. Students had to estimate how many individual starbursts and mints were in each globe. Along with the guessing, a cart was driven around the school with space-themed candy and treats and students got to pick them up on the way to class or in passing.
Students Appreciation Week was yet again another success, helping students de-stress from the pressures of academics. With a great start to the week with the eclipse, the theme of space allowed for more fun!
