What would you do get your hands on the spirit stick? Emily Watson supported the senior class by wearing 2,022 bows.

In the tally system for homecoming spirit week, each class is awarded one point per person who participates in dressing up for spirit week. On Friday, also known as “Red, Black, and Bow day,” any bow worn counts as one point for that class. Whichever class has the most points by the end of the week gets the Spirit Stick. The Spirit Stick awards the winning class with pride and bragging rights.

Each year, the leader of the flute section in the marching band wears the bow dress. 

The dress has the same number of bows as the year of the graduating class. A bow is added every year meaning this year, the bow dress is decorated with 2022 bows. Each bow counts as a point towards the senior class, nearly ensuring a win for the class of 2022.

Breaking tradition, this year the bow dress was worn by senior drum major Emily Watson.

Watson is very active in her school’s extra curricular activities. She serves as the President of the Key Club as well as the Secretary of the International Thespian Society, making her an ideal choice to wear the bow dress and show off her school spirit.

Watson said, “This year, our flute section leader didn’t want to wear the dress. . . Early on in spirit week, I advocated for myself to wear the dress, and all the other seniors were fine with it.”

Although Watson was very happy to carry on the Bow Dress tradition, she said, “The dress is definitely itchy and strangely heavy. The bows are all hot glued on, making the dress quite uncomfortable. I didn’t realize how itchy and heavy it was until I changed back into normal clothes.”