Spirit Week is the most anticipated week of the entire school year. It’s a week to flaunt school spirit and most importantly, it’s the battle of the classes. The Spirit Bowl was held just a few hours ago where the senior class dominated. The freshmen came in whopping second with the juniors close behind in third. The sophomores took fourth place.

The Spirit Bowl has been a Highland tradition for years. With each year, the competition grows increasingly fierce and rowdy. The classes battle each other in various events for points. At the end, the class with the most points wins.

The Spirit Bowl began with the annual obstacle course. One boy and one girl from each class raced through the set course for the best timed performance. The competition then heated up with a very memorable partner dance performance from the sophomore class. Arguably, the seniors upscaled the sophomore class with a lip-sync performance that turned heads. No doubt, the back flips were what made the seniors win the competition. At the end of the performance, senior Nathan Roderick didn’t drop the mic but instead dropped the spirit stick for all to see. Mouths shot open. The spirit stick was found.

Before the week began, the spirit stick was hidden somewhere on Highland property.

Throughout the week, clues were posted as to its whereabouts. The person to find the stick and return it, gained 400 points for their class. The seniors prevailed.

However, this year’s Spirit Bowl was different, it was special. The Highland family had an extraordinary visitor sitting in the stands–Princess Sam.

Sam is a brave six-year-old battling Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer. These last few weeks, Highland partnered with Make-A-Wish Foundation to help Princess Sam with her one special request, to meet Princess Aurora in Disney World.

Sam with her pink princess dress and all, was brought out into the center of the gym where she sat upon a student made thrown of purple and pink. There she was presented with enough money to grant her wish. Highland has raised $10986.48 and counting, surpassing our $10000 goal.

With an ear to ear grin, Sam picked up the microphone.

“Thank you Highland. I love you,” Sam said.

In years past, the competition mattered most. Not this year. Highland won something different, the heart of Princess Sam and no doubt she won ours as well. This Spirit Bowl is one that will be remembered for years to come. We united as a school and made an incredible difference. We granted Sam her wish. Sam will soon meet Princess Aurora.