Students drag through the endlessly daunting assignments, eagerly waiting for Mid-Pacific’s annual school events. However, COVID-19 has affected school life tremendously, causing confusion on the happenings of now.

In recent years, Mid-Pacific has said goodbye to old traditions like Ho’olaule’a and homecoming court while welcoming new traditions like Owl of Honor.

“I really do miss Ho’olaule’a because it was a tradition that I have attended since Elementary School,” junior class officer Terynn Horita said.

Many are left with mixed feelings.

“I feel like the changing of the court greatly discouraged people from running, though it also made it seem less formal and scary,” sophomore class officer Avery Higuchi said.

But what will happen with our formerly popular events? Director of High School Activities, Bill Wheeler gives us an insight on the reasons for the change, and if activities like Ho’olaule’a will eventually come back.

“We are planning on doing something on that day, it’s not going to be Ho’olaule’a, but it will be a form of an all-school activity” Wheeler said.

However, even with many changes, there are a number of events that we continue to carry on, like the Mid-Pacific School of Arts (MPSA) dance concerts, Campus Beautification Day, Field Day and Senior Camp.

“I really enjoyed the annual MPSA Spring Dance Concert, where I can watch my peer’s choreography that they have made for the school,” senior Phoebe Young said.

As we introduce ourselves to newer and more community oriented events, some enjoy taking on being an owl by giving back to Mid-Pacific.

“I really like the community beautification day, as it connects the hands-on nature of being able to do different things around school and provides an awesome outlook of being able to come back and say I did that for our school,” Student Ambassador Team Leader Caleb DeSoto said.

However, outside of structured events, students said that school spirit within the family-oriented culture at Mid-Pacific has been lacking.

“To be honest, I don’t think a lot of us show school spirit outside of social media,” Higuchi said.

Yet others disagree, saying that school pride can be seen within the walls of Mid-Pacific everyday.

“It shows up everywhere in day to day life just always represents the merchandise, and especially in the more competition narrated ones where it’s class versus class,” DeSoto said.

Especially with the pause on a number of these events, the school spirit seems to be coming back stronger.

“I think the spirit has come back pretty well. We noticed that right after COVID there was more school spirit with kids as they came out more eager, and there was more energy,” Wheeler said.

Despite a mix of feelings on how proud the community is, behind the scenes of producing an exciting school event takes many moving parts, while trying their best to please and enhance the community.

Involving the teachers, staff and students is pressing, and yet some don’t always agree with certain changes, but many have learned to follow the flow.

“Our council is trying to be more understanding and incorporate what people want, yet at times it is difficult to go against long standing traditions,” Higuchi said.

With that, results in an influential community, where students are able to interact with one another and teachers are able to join in and enhance our energy.

“I always see teachers on the sidelines cheering everyone on, helping out during the entire event, and even participating as well.” Horita said.

Overall, a large majority of us agree that the days when the Mid-Pacific community is able to come together and experience great memories and enjoy highschool to the fullest.

“Events are days where I can have a good time with friends and relax, and we can take pride in our school and what it means to be an owl,” Horita said.

Many students give their input on ways Mid-Pacific could improve with the school events.

As some also look towards more teacher oriented activities to lessen that divide and boost the experience overall.

“We could have more teacher involvement moving forward instead of just merely chaperoning and running games, so imagine if the teachers can participate in the games,” DeSoto said.

As the Christmas Assembly looms, students are looking forward to the performances by each highschool grade level, and an exit ticket to the end of the daunting three week school period between Thanksgiving break and Winter break.

“As a council member, I hope that we can further connect our grade to have more fun at these events,” said Higuchi.