by August Kissel, Senior Writer
On the week of April 5, Manhattan College’s Office of Student Engagement and Student Government Team created and launched Manhattan College’s very first spirit week, which also happened to be online. Students were encouraged to post, tag and share their Jasper spirit on social media, and each day a new Jasper would win a prize for sharing their spirit.
Inspiration for spirit week came from taking an example from Sacred Heart University, and the idea was brought up at one of the first Virtual Student Government meetings.
“Spirit Week was chosen specifically for this week (April 5-10) to start the Monday after Springfest and Spring Weekend would have taken place. So, while we didn’t get to have Isaac Slade and the Fray’s music in Draddy, a barbecue on the Quad, or a Yankees game on Sunday, we were still able to offer some shape and form of school spirit, and so many students participated on a daily basis, which was really great to see. Definitely something I would like to see Student Government continue to hold too, even when we’re back on campus,” said Executive Director of Student Engagement John Bennett.
“I brought up the idea to the Assembly and everyone loved it so the e-board and I got to planning it out. All we needed to do was plan what we thought would be fun for each day, what prizes would be awarded, how are we going to choose the winners, and what week we would start it. We figured that starting it the week after we were supposed to have Springfest would be nice to give students something to look forward to as that event was canceled,” added Student Body President, Kaylyn Atkins.
Each of the days encouraged new ways to demonstrate your Jasper spirit. The first was Spirit Sunday, students were encouraged to show off their favorite Manhattan College gear.
Motivational Monday followed with students sharing inspiring quotes and activities that they use to keep their energy and motivation high. This was the favorite of Atkins. “My favorite day was Motivational Monday, just because I loved the positive vibes and quotes students shared that meant most to them. I’ve been having trouble juggling all of my responsibilities and staying motivated so seeing uplifting pictures inspired me to get some work done,” said Atkins. 
This was followed by TikTok Tuesday, where students worked together to make TikToks despite the distance between themselves and their friends.
On Workout Wednesday, students shared pictures and videos of themselves working to stay fit while being at home.
Next was the classic Throwback Thursday, where students shared some of their favorite first memories at Manhattan College. Vice President for Club Administration, Anna Rosario, stated that this was her favorite day of the week. “My favorite day was definitely Throwback Thursday because being a Senior now, it was really nice having to scroll through my pictures to orientation in 2016. This spirit day forced me to reminisce, I even shed a few tears thinking about all the amazing people and memories that I have been blessed to have at the College.”
Last, was Pet-Friendly Friday, where students highlighted the furry friends that have been so much help to everyone during this period of uncertainty.
In true Jasper fashion, students took to their Instagram stories by storm, posting their best selfies in MC gear, creating and sharing master TikToks, showing off their best workout videos and digging deep in the archives for photos of their favorite memories on campus.
Each day these posts were shared on a variety of social media accounts, expanding the reach of everyone’s school spirit. At the end of each day, a winner was announced and they were able to collect their prize.
Student Government and Student Engagement saw this week as a success. “In my opinion, I do think that the virtual spirit week was definitely a success, we had a lot of people participate. I do think it helped build Jasper spirit from a distance; both for our current students as well as accepted students. Accepted students are deciding whether Manhattan is the place where they can spend the next four years, they won’t have an opportunity to go to campus and experience our Jasper charm. Spirit week kind of gave them a small insight at how proud students are to be Jaspers,” said Rosario.
Based on this success, Student Engagement and Student Government hope to make Spirit Week a part of major Student and Social Life events on campus, such as SpringFest, QuadChella, Manhattan Madness, and more. Their goal is to keep the Jasper spirit high, even when students are near and far from campus.
Despite the distance, the first Manhattan College Spirit Week has demonstrated that it’s always a great day to be a Jasper!