Due to the events of the past few years, school spirit has taken hit. But when it comes to something obnoxious, you can count on the student body to pull through. Five years ago the school had Color Wars where they would allow students to all get dressed in their grade’s color and throw paint at each other. However, when a student got paint in their eyes, Color Wars ended and spirit festivals have felt off since. Until April 4, 2022, Hauppauge had one of the most fun days to display school spirit.

          Hauppauge has always played it safe when it came to school spirit days. They have always picked Hauppauge clothes day or “cozy” day. But whoever instituted “Anything But A Backpack Day” knew the change our school needed. I was personally shocked coming into school, I knew people would participate, but I never thought that many would. Every grade had people participating. This event brought the students and faculty closer together. It brought spirit and energy to the entire school. Even the students that didn’t participate were laughing and enjoying the day. Throughout the day people would come through class with all different “not-backpacks” filled classrooms and hallways with laughter and fun.

      On most days, students would rather not go to school; it can be an exhausting place. But on “Anything But A Backpack Day,” people were excited to be there. Laughing at the beginning of class and talking with the teachers as a class, then getting to work made students awake and ready to learn. School is a constant repeating monotonous pattern, but the break from the normal school atmosphere made students want to be there. 

       Hauppauge students took the idea of “Anything But A Backpack” to a whole another level. Some students were daring enough to show up to school with kayaks.  There were several kayaks and there were two people driving around in toy cars. It was hilarious to see these fully-grown teenagers riding around in these cars made for 5-year-olds. Mr.Wieckhorst was not happy with the toy cars, because they did disturb classes and made a loud squeaking sound when driving around. However, Wieckhorst never set restrictions against them, so students were able to get their toys back. This made the student body laugh and bond together. One Senior dressed as a janitor and used a bucket and mop to carry his books, making a creative costume out of the day. Students were able to laugh at his excitement. It was great to see how creative the student body got making things to use as backpacks. This definitely needs to happen again in future years.