Feet gripped the floor. Hands held the rope tight. Bodies strained in either direction. Freshmen and sophomores struggled back and forth, with each class trying to win the tug of war.
But it wasn’t just immediate class peers cheering the rope pull. The seniors ran over to cheer and encourage the freshmen team to a win.
“That is the kind of school spirit we appreciate, when we cannot only work hard together but also laugh and play together,” says Stacy Tejel, one of Auburn Adventist Academy’s associated student body sponsors.
Auburn Academy hosts a school spirit week twice a year to usher in a new semester, welcome new students, celebrate the completion of second-semester finals and help students bond with one another.
“The week is an excellent opportunity for students to work as a team and experience working together for the common good of the entire class,” Tejel says.
Each class earns points for Best Dressed thematic costumes and plays a variety of group games. While the senior class, with 48 students, earned the highest amount of points, the real winner of the week was a united and growing student body of seniors plus 62 freshmen, 66 sophomores and 52 juniors.
“As a school family learns together, it also needs to play together,” says John Soule, AAA principal. “We took time to play and have some fun for 50 minutes each day before lunch. This brought us closer together as a school family and helped students and teachers get to know each other in a new, real way as we cheered for each other.”
From the first year of Auburn's academic program in 1919 to the 96th year, students and faculty build a school family bond outside of the classroom through planned activities and play time.
Each class level faces off in a tug of war at Auburn Adventist Academy.
Emily Ellis, a senior student from Auburn, Wash., creates an artistic masterpiece with finger paints.
Play time for Auburn Adventist Academy students takes a variety of forms from extracurricular activities, to field trips, dorm life, group games, and creative expression.
