This year’s winter carnival was an eventful one from spirit week and pep rally to finally having an in-person dance after not having one last year.

Winter carnival is rich in tradition at CHS, and one of those traditions is class spirit champions. Every year, one spirit champion is chosen for each grade.

“The spirit champions are chosen to try to involve the classes and get everyone more hype about the week,” student council representative Lia Spink (‘23) said. “There was a Google form that was put out a couple days before the winter carnival week so students could vote on the champions.”

This year’s spirit champions were senior Zach Breining, junior Carter Alexander, sophomore Leland Curanovic, and freshman Cade Alhstrom.

Every day during spirit week, the spirit champions led their classes in dressing up following the daily theme in order to earn points for their class.

“[Zach and I] won the dress up for spirit week every day; Zach got first and I got second,” Alexander said. “That was fun along with the games at the pep rally, but it was more like a friendly competition than anything.”

Throughout every spirit week, there is a competition between the classes to see who can win the most points.

“I wanted to get the whole class involved and get everyone to go all out for a week,” Alexander said. “The main goal was to beat the seniors of course.”

In the end, the senior class won the point competition after a close battle with the juniors, but everyone gave it their all during the pep rally and point competition during the week.

“Points were given for how many people dress up, lunch time games, and also the spirit champions get points for their classes if they participated in the tasks given to them each day,” Spink said.

However, this year was a little different with a 100 dollar gift card on the line for the winner.

“I had a fun time competing against the senior spirit champion Zach Breining,” Alexander said. “In the end, we both agreed that we wanted to split the $100 gift card and both do as much as possible for the week.”

One of the highlights of the winter carnival is the pep rally. All students get to leave their classes early to gather in the gym and watch a fierce but fun competition between their classes.

Spirit champions are leaders for their classes at the pep rally to keep the energy high.

“I didn’t really feel like I was a leader,” Alexander said. “I was, but everyone was riled up and jumping up and down the whole time anyways; it was just a good environment.”

The pep rally is meant to be a celebration of school spirit, filled with competitions between the classes.

“The pep rally is similar each year,” Spink said. “We always do musical chairs and dodgeball, along with the cheerleader performance and class hype ups.”

The student council organized all of the winter carnival, and they faced some obstacles along the way.

“We tried getting some fun lights for the pep rally but it was not approved, which changed our plans a bit,” Spink said. “Of course, we had to consider the mask mandate, which was still in effect during our spirit week, but that didn’t change too much.”

This year, the traditional winter carnival dance returned after its cancellation last year due to the pandemic. It was held on March 12th from 8 to 10 inside the school and brought excitement to many students.

“I’m super happy the dance happened this year,” Alexander said. “I think everyone needed it, especially since it was cancelled last year.”

Along with the pep rally, the dance is a highlight of winter carnival every year.

“My favorite part of the winter carnival would have to be the dance,” Spink said. “I love the week building up to it and getting ready with all of my friends. The string lights, music, and just the fun atmosphere were great.”

This year’s winter carnival was a success and a great way to celebrate Chelsea spirit.

“It was a pleasure to be spirit champion,” Alexander said. “I felt like it wasn’t about me, it was more about everyone else and making sure everyone had a fun week.”