John Jay College held its Spirit Week from Monday, March 2 to Thursday, March 5. Spirit Week consisted of themed days that students dressed up for, such as Anything But a Book Bag Day, Decades Day, Twin Day, and John Jay Spirit Day.

The first theme of the week was Anything But a Book Bag Day, which encouraged students to use any kind of container they could find as a book bag for the day.

On Tuesday, Decades Day encouraged students to dress up in clothes from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

On Wednesday, students matched in pairs to participate in Twin Day, and Spirit Week ended on Thursday, which encouraged students to dress in their favorite John Jay College attire.

Spirit Week helped students embrace their identities and gave clubs the opportunity to gain additional funding to host events on campus through prizes.

Student Council Treasurer In-Deria Barrows was the creative and logistical leader of directing Spirit Week and explained how CUNY’s bureaucracy delayed it from happening.

“Spirit Week was originally my initiative,” said Barrows. “It is something that I wanted to see during my junior year, however by the time I came up with it, you know the rules and regulations with SAABO and stuff and how we plan our events, it was just too late in the semester.”

Barrows also explained how she originally wanted to exclude lowerclassmen.

“Initially it was just going to be the seniors for a week, but I was like it is better to get the entire school involved,” said Barrows.

Student Council President Jamella Richmond explained how organizing an event such as Spirit Week aligns with the Student Council’s aims.

“I thought that it was a really great initiative because our mission this year is to meet students where they are, and I feel like what better way to do that than in Hound Square,” said Richmond.

Barrows also explained that the $500 prize in club funding is not a cash prize to clubs, but is rather allocated from the Student Council’s budget, and given to the winning club as a part of their budget to purchase apparel or food only for club events.

Barrows continued to explain how the prizes were distributed to the winners of Spirit Week.

“On twin day, the winning duo got trophies and the individuals got $40 AMC Gift cards,” said Barrows.

President of the John Jay Donor Hound Club Gabrielle Samuels, who is a junior majoring in law & society and international criminal justice, received the $500 in funding for her club by being a part of the winning group for Spirit Day.

The John Jay Donor Hound Club is the only club on campus that is dedicated to organizing bone marrow and blood donations on campus.

“I incorporated the rest of my board members to join me on the red carpet so we could all walk together and make it a group activity,” said Samuels.

Samuels says she valued being able to participate in the event because it allowed her to step outside her comfort zone.

“We are always hosting events on campus to find potential bone marrow donors and that requires us to always be in a rush and get everything in, so we decided that it would be a fun activity to slow down and enjoy the moment,” said Samuels.

Isabella Irfan, a freshman majoring in forensic psychology, received a $40 AMC gift card for winning decades day.

“My dad was telling me like you literally have all of the accessories to dress for the 2000s and you do not even have to buy anything,” said Irfan.

Irfan explained why she chose to participate in Decades Day.

“I just did it for fun. I did not even think I was going to win to be honest,” said Irfan.

Odellis Criollo, a freshman majoring in forensic psychology, was also the winner of a $40 AMC gift card for Spirit Day.

Criollo said that they participated to branch out into the John Jay community, which is necessary even for a commuter school like John Jay College.

“I think Spirit Week is very necessary because it brings people together,” said Criollo. “I feel like I met some people there and I got to see everybody’s creative side.”

Criollo also said they felt the energy of the event was positive and energetic, which made them keen on participating in the next Spirit Week.

The $500 sponsorship for club materials was one of the most coveted prizes among most participants.

Samuels said that the sponsorship helped the Donor Club connect with the community and continue to host events.

“It definitely did help us save a little money, especially since our events mainly consist of bone marrow drives,” said Samuels. “They are all day events that start from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Hound Square, so we often order a big catering to help our volunteers and incentivize the John Jay community to be a part of our events.”

Richmond shared how hosting Spirit Week at John Jay College event helped members of the Student Council connect with student body.

“As the Student Council, our job is to make sure that the school is lively and that people have these events to show out with,” said Richmond. “I was a little iffy about the idea at first because I hoped for a big turnout and I know people get shy, but we had an amazing turnout.”