Six kids wearing hula skirts, ripped T-shirts and war paint on their faces are dancing around in the middle of the gym shouting nonsensical words such as "hunawudamaku." Is this some kind of primitive sacrificial ritual, or just the entrance procession for another Student Appreciation Day? If you guessed the latter, you are correct; this was just a slice of the fun that was had the week of January 29-Feburary 2, also know as Catholic Schools Week.

This amazing week starts off with the Dance-a-Thon/Read-a-Thon, a day where you dance or read for two hours in the afternoon to raise money for the retired IHM sisters. This day also served as Wacky Tacky Day where, as the name suggests, the students put on the craziest combinations of clothing they can come up with, often resulting in the fashion police arresting a greater part of the school.

On Tuesday, The Eighth graders got to teach all of the classes for one hour, while the whole school was dressed up as their favorite Disney character or in their favorite color. "It was a totally different world than what you thought it was," said Melissa Riley, Eighth grade, who was the principal for that day. Wednesday brought PJ day and the Rigatoni Luncheon for the students, a free lunch that gets to be eaten in the gym. The Eighth graders went to Capitol Hill to lobby for different programs that benefit Catholic Schools across the nation. But the day that everyone was waiting for, Student Appreciation Day (SAD), came on Thursday.

Weeks of work go into putting SAD together, the theme has to be decided, dance moves choreographed, cheers learned, decorations made, and the all important psyching out of the Odds. "We were all excited to compete against the other team," commented Anthony Nguyen, Eighth grade. Many recesses were missed to plan, and long hours were spent (at least at my house they were) constructing Roman arches and imperial boxes. The Even team, consisting of grades 8,6,4,2, and K, were Ancient Romans, and the Odd team, grades 7, 5, 3, and 1, were the inhabitants of the jungle. We dressed up in costumes according to our themes and at 1:05 PM sharp, the games began.

The so called "games" actually consists of three different relay races. Every child gets to participate in one of them. This is where SADs are won and lost, considering that 2/3 of the points come from the races. Mixed into all of this is an entrance, constant cheers, yelled as loud as possible, a song with dance moves that the kids plan themselves, thank you speeches, and much more. That's a lot to pack into two short hours.

The next day when my class found out that the day that we had worked so hard to plan for the past month had been won by us, the Evens, bedlam doesn't begin to describe it. Since it was our last SAD at St John the Evangelist, victory was especially sweet. The next day, the First grade did the First Friday Mass and the teachers had their Teacher Appreciation Day lunch.

If you are ever fortunate enough to wander by SJE this time of year, what you see will probably be strange, crazy, and borderline insane, but it will definitely be unlike anything you will ever see again.

Hail Caesar.