Students launch Winter Carnival with PJ Day
PARIS – The dress code at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School was a little different Monday.
The girls wore flannels and cottons decorated with flowers, cartoon characters and even big, puckered red lips.
Boys wore mostly plaids.
There was even a pair of Scooby-Doo slippers.
It was PJ Day at the high school – the official kickoff to the Winter Carnival.
“Everybody has been looking at mine,” said 14-year-old Emily Knightly of Norway. “That’s just because they are better than theirs are.”
She was talking about her light blue pajamas that were decorated with black and white cows hanging off stars and crescent moons.
“I got compliments, too,” said Arika Baker, 15, of Oxford. “A lot of people liked my Scooby-Doo slippers.”
David Harbage, treasurer for the freshman class, said that the rest of the week had specific dress up (or down) days as part of Winter Carnival. He called it Spirit Week, because students had a chance to show their class spirit through their dress.
The official dress schedule is: Tuesday, Beach Day; Wednesday, the ’80s; Thursday, dress like a Mainer; and Friday, dress to class color.
Harbage said students have until Tuesday to nominate students in their specific class for the honor of being king and queen at the big dance on Saturday. Finalists will be chosen and the voting will happen Wednesday and Thursday.
All students will also be voting for the king and queen of the faculty.
“Winter Carnival has been around since I was in school and that was 30 years ago,” said art teacher, 1967 graduate and unofficial school historian Nancy Marcotte.
She said originally Winter Carnival offered competition between the freshman to senior classes at outdoor activities such as ski races, making snow sculptures and broom hockey.
Marcotte said the activities changed over the years because of the unstableness of the weather.
“Holding it outdoors became kind of iffy and gradually the carnival became more of a class competition in what you wore,” Marcotte said. “Students show their spirit by dressing.”
Marcotte said that the boys did not participate much in the PJ Day. She expected that their presence would be noticed on Beach Day and Dress Like a Mainer Day.
“That’s a new day this year, should be a lot of flannel shirts,” Marcotte said.
PJ Day belonged to the girls.
“It’s my favorite day,” said Kayla Newmeyer, 15, of West Paris.
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