At Marian High School in Mishawaka, school spirit is a vital part of the community’s culture. From cheering in student sections as part of the “Knight Brigade” to decorating halls during spirit weeks, Marian’s students are all-in when it comes to supporting their school. Although many asp ects of Marian’s school spirit activities are similar to those of other schools, Marian has a unique event that sets it apart. “Spirit Knight,” as it is called, is what it sounds like: a night for students to get together to display their sense of school spirit. The extracurricular event takes place in the spring each year and is a competition between a blue team and a white team (Marian’s school colors). The blue team is made up of students with last names beginning with the letters A-K, and the white team consists of students with last names beginning with L-Z. The teams compete in sports, arts, spirit, and dance events throughout the school year and at the culminating event in March to eventually determine a winner on Spirit Knight. Photos provided by Marian High School Spirit Knight came about because Marian’s strategic plan in 2017 included goals for increasing overall school spirit and community. Trish Keilman and her sister, Kelly Keenan, who currently works at Marian, attended Conwell-Egan Catholic High School in Philadelphia. Their alma mater has a Spirit Night event that dates back to the 1980s, and it inspired the idea for Marian’s Spirit Knight. So, Spirit Knight came to be, and the Marian Family has benefited immensely. Each year, a different theme is chosen. Previous themes have included novels, movies, and board games. This year, the theme is occupations. In order to help the theme to come to life, students and faculty dress up in accordance with the theme and decorate the school and hallways. Artistic students have the opportunity to create 20-by-20 murals to represent the performance that their team will showcase on Spirit Knight. Although sports and arts don’t always align, Spirit Knight brings both together in an activity for everyone, showing Marian’s inclusivity. To many new students, Spirit Knight is a big surprise and an exciting event to learn about. Students have mentioned that Spirit Knight is a very special part of Marian and helps to bring students together in a unique way. Between the student captains, parent volunteers, alumni support, and faculty participation, the Marian community is committed to the event. Keilman noted that “it is hard to describe Spirit Knight briefly! It touches our students, our faculty and staff, our alumni, our feeder schools, and our community very differently but with a common theme of inclusivity, involvement, collaboration, teamwork, and friendly competition.” Keilman explained that Spirit Knight is so special and unique that no other school around has anything like it. Therefore, incoming high school students in our Mishawaka-South Bend community look forward to joining the positive culture and school spirit that Marian’s Spirit Knight helps to facilitate. As a new student to Marian, I am extremely excited to participate in my first Spirit Knight after hearing so many wonderful stories from my peers and teachers. Learning about Spirit Knight has helped me to discover the beautiful, inclusive community that Marian High School has established. Spirit Knight truly is a “knight” to remember! ‘ McKenna Rousseve is a sophomore at Marian High School. The post ‘Spirit Knight’ Brings Marian Community Together appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less