UTL and Spirit Week: A Beloved Winsor Tradition 

A beloved Winsor tradition dating back to 1994, Under the Lights (UTL) brings current and former faculty, students, alums, and parents to campus for a Friday night celebration of Winsor community and athletics. On October 16, hundreds of spectators cheered on the mid, JV, and varsity soccer, field hockey, and volleyball teams as they competed in 10 contests with area schools. 

Later in the weekend, 500+ supporters gathered on the dock at the Winsor Belmont Hill Boat House to root for the Winsor crew at the Head of the Charles Regatta. The timing of UTL coincides with the HOCR so that on-campus contests on Friday are paired with weekend races on the Charles River, creating a weekend-long celebration of Winsor athletics. 

The annual harbinger of UTL is Spirit Week. Held October 13–16, each day of the week is assigned a different theme, and the school community dresses accordingly. Students Advocating School Spirit, affectionately called SASS, is the club responsible for coming up with themes, which they brainstorm and finalize during lunchtime meetings in the fall. 

Kicking off the week with “famous couples and groups,” jars of spices, packs of Care Bears, and Sesame Street characters roamed the halls, but it was a trio of fast food restaurants—Wendy’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Chick-fil-a—who took top prize at the awards presentation. 

With a wide margin for creative interpretation, feathered fascinators, bib-wearing runners, pit crew, and the Mario Brothers were just some of the costumes for “off to the races.” Then, broken out by classes (or for some faculty and staff, the decade in which they were born), community members were encouraged to dress “through the decades” of the 1960s (Class I and Class V), the 1970s (Class II and Class VI), the 1980s (Class III and VII), and the 1990s (Class IV and VIII).

Of course the most popular day of all is Red Day. Faculty, staff, and students dress in a veritable sea of red tulle, boas, leggings, headbands, and face paint for the occasion, which culminates in the all-school pep rally in the Brock-Wilson Gymnasium.

Judging this year’s class cheer competition at the pep rally were English Faculty Katie Bogart, History Faculty Julian Braxton and Josh Constant, and Physics Faculty Denise Labieniec.

Class pride runs high at the pep rally and students imbue their cheers with references to their graduation years or class years as a marker of class unity and identity. “W, I, N, S, O, R, we are Winsor, yes we are!” chanted Class I. “W, I, N, S, O, R, Class II we set the bar!” cheered Class II. “Oh what a shaaaaame, that you’re not a Class III,” sang the Class of 2032, adlibbing to Ke$ha’s “Die Young.” “F, O, U, R, S,” called Class IV. Even the seniors emphasized their status on campus in their cheer: “S, E, N, I, O, R, S we are the seniors, seniors, seniors!”

Falling into a boy-band dreamscape, Class V sampled songs from NSYNC including “Just Got Paid” and “I Want You Back,” while Class VI marched into formation and had a “roll call.” 

The juniors enlisted Head of School Meredith Legg, who started their routine with a voiceover: “This is your commander in chief, Ms. Legg. The juniors…are coming.” 

Class VIII ended the show with a final bow set to a song from High School Musical before the Winsor dance team performed a high-energy routine sampling artists from AC/DC (“Thunderstruck”) to Jennifer Lopez (“On the Floor”).

While the judges announced the Lower School superlatives, it was the Class of 2027, the Class VIII “Super 27ars” who won first place:

• Class I: First Annual Ms. Ciraldi Award for Best Most Coordinated
• Class II: First Annual Mr. Crompton Award for Best Rhyming 
• Class III: First Annual Mr. Marshall Award for Best Use of Music
• Class IV: First Annual Ms. Burke Award Most Spirited 

To wrap up the pep rally, SASS shared their favorite UTL tradition and enlisted the help of hundreds of students to create a human cheer tunnel. Winsor student athletes run through the tunnel ahead of their games. 

Go Wildcats!