Dayton Students Call In Reindeer

DAYTON - As the winter semester draws to a close for Dayton students, Associ- ated Student Body (ASB) representatives are taking action to help reignite school spirit, Bulldog pride and keep students from getting too overwhelmed with their final days of the semester.

ASB President Samantha Harting updated the school board Wednesday evening, discussing upcoming events and changes the ASB will be implementing in the coming weeks.

Harting said the ASB will address a decrease in school spirit, which Harting attributes in part to the being "bogged down" by an over- whelming amount of work at the end of the semester.

"We don't have the school spirit we used to," Harting said. "So we're trying to re- instill that."

To help promote school spirit, Harting said the ASB has arranged three dress-up spirit days for students to participate in that would not distract from classes.

For the final three days of the semester, students at the high school and middle school will be encouraged to dress up in red on Monday, green on Tuesday and crazy or ugly sweaters on Wednes- day.

Wednesday will also fea- ture reindeer games for the last hour of school before winter break, Harting said. The games will be simple, Christmas-themed games to get everyone involved before the end of the semester, Hart- ing said.

Harting said the ASB will also be including the middle school in the spirit days, which she said was impor- tant because they often feel left out at an age between elementary and high school.

Harting said along with school spirit, the ASB is pro- moting Bulldog PRIDE, an acronym for personal respon- sibility, respect, integrity, de- termination and excellence.

The ASB made signs and posted them around the building earlier this year to remind students of the acronym, but the signs didn't last long, Harting said. The ASB plans to have more profes- sional signs made and laminated to keep them on the walls longer, Harting said.

Heading into the new year, the ASB is also looking to update the school store.

"The biggest problem is that we don't have a specific location to have an actual school store," Harting said.

The store is currently being hosted out of the office, Harting said, and because there is no true storefront, advertising is limited to word of mouth and signs in a nearby display case and in the com- mons.

Harting said the ASB is also discussing updating the inventory with some new products to help entice more buyers.

Harting said the inventory hasn't been updated since last year and the ASB is discussing including updated logos on apparel and other inexpensive items like mega- phones to use at sporting events to encourage students to make purchases.

Dayton High School Principal Andy Maheras said students involved in the ASB at all levels are often involved in a lot of groups, which makes it more difficult for the students to meet up as a whole.

"We had difficulty last year with attendance at the legislative assembly," Mah- eras said.

Despite the scheduling difficulties, Maheras said he will be restarting the ASB legislative meetings, bring- ing students involved in ASB at all grade levels together to meet.

"It's been really fun this year helping these guys (ASB students)," Maheras said.