There has been a different atmosphere in the school halls this past week, as if students are buzzing with excitement and school pride. Tonight in The Field House is when everything will let loose in bright neon. Court-warming is an exciting week for many students, teachers and athletes. There are different things to look forward to during the week including the spirit days, Spike it Up, Court-warming King and Queen, the Pep Assembly, the basketball game all capped off by the finale, the Glow Bubble Dance.

Pep Assembly

Brought to the students by the Leadership class, the Pep Assembly is intended to recognize all of the winter sports and athletes and the final push to pump up the students for the basketball games tonight. Planning started about a month ago and the theme was decided in the first week of planning.

“In the past we have tried to have characters with a story line and a plot instead of just narrators out there with a microphone,” junior Kayel Newland said.

Last year, two body-building characters hosted the Assembly. This year, the theme will be The Bachelor, which is something a lot of students can relate to and will hopefully enjoy.

“We have a guy and four girls,” Newland said. “We will be introducing them with what they do and who they are. Hopefully it will make sense and will be funny.”

New performances are being added to the assembly this year, including Winter Guard and Exit 1-6.

There would be no Court-warming week without the basketball games. Boys and Girls JV play tonight at 5 p.m in the Field House and Cokely. Varsity Girls’ play in the Field House at 6 p.m and Varsity Boys’ play in the Field House at 8 p.m. The theme for tonight will be the traditional Glow Crazy, where students dress in neon attire. The teams view this as one of the biggest games of the season, especially the Varsity Boys team, who will be playing Truman High School.

“We prepare for one game at a time,” Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach Roger Stirtz said. “We don’t look ahead so we can narrow our focus.”

“As a player, there are a couple of ways to respond to an environment like that,” Stirtz said. “You could be inexperienced in those situations and be a little timid or hesitant, or have experience in those situations, and be confident in that atmosphere and embrace it in order to succeed.”

The Dance

Immediately following the last game of the night, students will flow into Cokely for the Courtwarming Dance. A blacklight bubble dance will take place with a DJ. Students must wear their neon yellow Glow Jays t-shirt in order to get into the dance. StuCo purchased their own bubble machine for tonight.

“It is a lot more laid back than the other dances that we have,” senior Sarah Parrott said. “We are using the same DJ that was used in Homecoming this year and he was really good.”

StuCo prepared for 400 students last year, but 700 showed up.

“Turn out was very good last year,” sophomore Jacob Marquis said. “We are hoping to have around that number again this year.”

Spirit Week

The spirit days during this past week have mixed tradition and new ideas. StuCo discovered that last year’s lack of participation was due to high-effort themes.

“This year we are changing things up by going for easier days that anyone can participate in without putting in a lot of effort,” senior Sarah Parrott said.

Roughly 20 to 30 ideas for themes are pitched and the process of narrowing that number down to five is tedious.

“It is a really long process of everyone raising their hand, speaking their opinion and then narrowing it down to five,” Marquis said.

The week was kicked off by a lowkey pajama day. Tuesday was a new theme called Mathlete vs. Athlete. Wednesday, students showed their class pride by wearing their class color,Thursday was USA day, with students displayed their patriotism. Friday, everyone wore their neon attire which is to be worn during the Pep Assembly during school and then tonight for the basketball game.

In another effort to hype up the game, Snapchat GeoFilters were provided to students throughout the week where StuCo requested students to tweet @ LibertyStuCo their pictures using #GlowJays.

Spike it Up

The first event of the Court-warming week was the annual volleyball tournament, Spike it Up, hosted by StuCo on Wednesday.

“All of the proceeds went to our Special Olympics athletes,” Parrott said.

To play, players had to pay $15 and the audience had to pay a $5 entry fee.