With school back in session and football season starting, students have begun to show some spirit. Senior girls have decided to continue the tradition of making and selling senior shirts and other spirit wear to show their spirit and what the graduating class of 2022 is all about.

“Since everybody has done it in the previous years, we kinda had to step up and do it ourselves,” senior Taylor Dimanoff said. “At the same time though, I wanted to make sure we did have cool spirit wear to wear so we can be different from the other grades.”

Dimanoff said that one way the senior spirit wear is different from last year’s is that they are putting in more effort into the products and design. 

“Last year’s class only did one jersey and a hat,” Dimanoff said. “And I think that makes us a lot more different as we are not only doing just the jersey but doing multiple jerseys, even though our first did look a little bit like last years. We still were able to back it up with other things.”

Some of the stuff that the seniors are putting together to sell are jerseys, tie-dye shirts and hats. Currently they are working on baseball jerseys to sell.

“This is mainly just for the football games and the themes,” Dimanoff said. “We are hoping though later in the year that we can make senior base t-shirts for everyone.” 

Currently the prices for the spirit wear are $23 for the jerseys, $18 for the hats and the $20 for the tee-shirts. Dimanoff said that they’re going to try to have more people purchase items so it will be cheaper. 

“Everything right now that we do is through Custom Ink,” Dimanoff said. “It’s not expensive but not cheap; it’s somewhere in the middle. The more people we have to buy items the cheaper it will be, so we are trying to get a bunch of people to order things because not everyone is going to want everything.”

So far they’ve had around 80 orders for the jerseys, and on the first day of school, all the senior girls who ordered one came to school wearing that jersey. Dimanoff said it felt kinda weird seeing everyone wearing the jersey.

“I didn’t realize how many people we have in our grade that I hadn’t seen in so long,” Dimanoff said. “You would go to a store or a place and you would obviously see people with a mask on, but I didn’t realize how many faces I haven’t seen or recognized in so long.”

Dimanoff says that one of her favorite things from the senior spirit wear has to be the designs for the t-shirts.

“I think they are so cute and they give me sorority vibes but they’ll say ‘Vandegrift Seniors 22’ so I’m really excited for that,” Dimanoff said. “And I’m just excited for everyone to see the designs.”

Besides showing their spirit through what they wear, Dimanoff said they will show their spirit through making signs for games and coming together to cheer for their team, clubs and friends. 

“At one of the volleyball games we were cheering super loud for all the volleyball girls,” Dimanoff said. “Plus with COVID-19 the past year and a half, it’s really important for us to make the most of this since we haven’t really had a true high school for four years because of everything that’s happening, and obviously with senior year, just wanting to leave a legacy behind.”

Dimanoff has had many helpers help her create the designs and layout for the spirit wear, including seniors Riley Wilget, Caroline Caldwell (who came up with the original jersey that was worn on the first day) and Danielle Hughes (who created the tee-shirts).

“I actually had this idea since junior year and when all the girls in our senior group chat were trying to figure out the design for the jersey, I sent my idea in, and a majority of the group really liked it,” Caldwell said. “Everyone had so many great ideas and it was so cool to see all of us come together to make our football and senior season the best it could be.”

What senior Marycate Brown loves about the spirit wear is that it helps everyone be involved in the senior traditions the school has to offer. 

“Being senior means that everything is bigger this year and we want to go all out for everything,” Brown said. “So having the spirit wear kinda helps everyone be involved in it.”

In the future, Dimanoff is hoping to incorporate some spirit wear into the volleyball and basketball seasons.

“Hoping for volleyball and basketball in the future, that we can get themes for those games too just so we can’t stop the spirit after football season,” Dimanoff said.

Diamonoff highly recommends seniors to get senior spirit wear as she believes it’s a good thing to have after high school to remember all the memories made from the four years. 

“It’s a cool thing to have after your high school years and when you’re older to just look back and be like, ‘Oh this is cool I have this,’” Dimanoff said. “Something I’m looking forward to doing with all my spirit wear and stuff is making a blanket with it and all my Vandegrift stuff, so I’m really excited about that.”