DURING THE LAST week of January each year, Uni students and faculty members dress up in different themes to promote school spirit. It's all part of the Spirit Week tradition, which also includes an all-school assembly and a well-attended Senior Night for the girls basketball team.

But Spirit Week 2008 will feature a few changes. In addition to the old favorites, Student Council will sponsor some new lunch-time events this year. The following is a list of what will happen each day:

• Monday: Animal Day; Fashion Show & Bake-Off
  Dress up as an animal of your choice. If you dress up, come and show off your costume and get a prize in the fashion show. For the bake-off, bake something over the weekend, bring it in, and StudCo's panel of judges will pick a winner (for each category of food if there are enough entries) and award participation prizes to everyone. You should make enough food for four to five judges to sample.
• Tuesday: Twin Day or Teacher/Student Switch Day; Hippity-Hop Race & Eating Contest
  Dress up as twins with your friend(s), or do a teacher/student switch. During lunch, race down the hallway on giant bouncy-balls. Also bring your appetite to the eating contest! (Note: Although this isn't part of the official Spirit Week calendar, if you can get a ride to Decatur Christian, come out to the boys basketball game Tuesday night between 16-5 Uni and the 17-2 host Warriors. The Illineks are shooting for their fourth straight conference championship, and this game almost certainly will determine who wins the title. JV action begins at 6 p.m., followed by varsity at 7:30. The game will be played at the Skywalker International Sports Complex, 400 E. Eldorado, Decatur. For directions, click here.)
• Wednesday: Look Ugly Day; Human Pyramid Races & Chariot Races
  Dress up real ugly — clashing colors would work. During lunch, build a human pyramid with your friends. First group to build one wins! And don't forget that Roman tradition, chariot races.
• Thursday: Career Day; Frozen T-Shirt Race & Dance-Off; Senior Night, Uni girls basketball vs. Normal Calvary Baptist, 6 p.m. Kenney Gym
  Dress up as what you want to be when you grow up. During lunch the first group to put a frozen, balled-up T-shirt on someone wins the frozen T race! Also, be ready to show your moves in the dance-off. At night, send the Uni senior girls out in style as they play their final home basketball game.
• Friday: Pajama Day; Assembly; Uni boys basketball vs. Normal Calvary Baptist, 6 p.m. JV start, Kenney Gym (not Senior Night, but end Spirit Week by packing the place)
  Dress up in the new Friday casual — pajamas! At 3 p.m., make some noise at the assembly, with surprise activities TBA. At night, show up at Kenney to pack the place in support of the boys basketball team.

“There will be events happening during lunch every day that will be fun, informal, and open to all,” said Student Council executive president Micah Berman. “Since we're reworking X-Week as well, StudCo decided to sponsor some fun events during the week, free and open to all. We hope people will participate — we made a conscious effort to feature a variety of events — and they're free and you'll get some neat prizes!”

This year’s ending to the assembly on Friday will also be altered, featuring secret fun activities aimed at trying to get everyone involved.

As for X-Week, which consists of class-sponsored fundraising events usually held in May, changes are in store for that as well. The date has not been decided yet, but StudCo is planning to shorten X-Week. Not much has been discussed about it lately, because StudCo's efforts have been focused on Spirit Week.

“We're planning on working with the calendar committee to place [X-Week] at a point in the year when everyone's not wiped out,” said Berman. “We're still looking at a shorter X-Week … focused on hands-on volunteering, involving parents in our efforts, and passing some or all of the activities off to clubs (so StudCo would serve as a support role), because there are so many clubs at Uni that are already doing great work and could use the help and support of the student body.”