CPB Director and senior Evan Castro has made it his mission to paint The Bluff purple, but he won’t be using paint or a paintbrush.
Starting tomorrow through next Friday, CPB will introduce Spirit Week, where UP students, faculty and staff are invited to celebrate the fun of being a Pilot through activities and competitions designed to foster school spirit.
Castro, who has been planning Spirit Week since his election as CPB director at the end of last semester, said he wants to build school spirit because he feels students are too focused on other things.
“We have good school spirit sometimes, but other than that our students are really focused on academics, which isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “But just getting more of that spirit out there, and to really be proud of your heritage as a University of Portland Pilot, is something I think our school needs.”
Spirit Week kicks off tomorrow with an alumni speaker event featuring UP alum and recent “Bachelorette” winner Chris Siegfried. Following this weekend’s CPB-sponsored silent disco, next week’s activities include a kick-off rally, a faculty kickball match, class team-building exercises, a UP trivia night and will end with a Purple Pride parade and the men’s soccer game on Friday evening at Merlo Field.
Each of these events will target a specific community within UP, like the residence halls, the four student classes and all the university’s different schools. Students, staff and faculty will compete within these communities to earn points both on a team and individual basis.
“It’s just basically identifying all the parts of a student that you identify with at UP, so your living community, your school, your class, and finally everything comes together at the game on Friday, where everyone’s in purple,” Castro said. “So even though you’re competing throughout the whole week against each other, this is where everyone comes together to be a Pilot.”
Eric Luke, weekend and late night programming director, has been advising Castro and the rest of the CPB board on Spirit Week. He said CPB choosing to celebrate all different types of communities on campus is a strength of the event.
“It allows students to realize all the different ways, all the different groups they’re a part of at UP, which I think allows for that sense of pride, that sense of spirit for being a part of this community,” he said.
Each of the four student class teams have been randomly assigned different mythological sea creature mascots, such as hydras and hippocamps, which represent virtues like courage, strength and honor. Castro said he hopes a unifying idea like a mascot will encourage students to feel more spirited and rally together in their respective classes.
“It allows for continuity, it allows for that connection between classes,” Castro said. “If they think it’s silly, they’ll think it’s silly and make fun of it, but it’ll bring them together nonetheless.”
Luke said because Spirit Week is new this year, it will set the standard for potential future Spirit Weeks at UP.
“I really think the expectation this year is to set the baseline for years to come,” he said.
Castro said his biggest hope for Spirit Week, other than getting people to participate, is to encourage students to show off their school spirit instead of keeping it hidden.
“Really, my hope is just to bring that school pride and have students realize that they have it,” he said. “Because they do have it, but it’s buried, and so I hope this will allow them to take it out and let them show it.”
Schedule of Spirit Week Events:
Friday, Oct. 4: alumni speaker Chris Siegfried in BC Aud at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 5: silent disco at Jeld-Wen Field from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Monday, Oct. 7: kick-off rally in Bauccio Commons at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 8: faculty kickball match at Prusynski Pitch at 4 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 9: Race to the Finish class team-building in Academic Quad at 5 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 10: UP trivia night in the New Commons at 5 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 11: Purple Pride Parade at 6 p.m. followed by the men’s soccer game vs. San Diego at 7 p.m. at Merlo Field.
