Walking to class on August 16th, the start of the school year, one of the first things you heard about was dress code. Administration has made it clear that they are trying to achieve a good STA image. Part of a good STA image is dress code; skirts no higher than 5 inches above your knee, shirts tucked in, belts on, and now only select colors for spirit wear. Administration has chosen to make all of our spirit wear tops specific Aquinas colors. All spirit wear tops must be navy blue, gray, white, carolina blue, or gold. There are many reasons behind this rule change and many concerns as well. Keeping a good image is important, but will these changes achieve that goal?
A main reason for this rule is appearance and what others preserve Aquinas to be. Aquinas students should all look like they go to the same school, they should be a community. Wearing the same colors on spirit days, in public, and on game days shows others outside of our school that we are one body of students. Being a community makes people care about Aquinas and want to go here. The middle schoolers who see us at football games, in public, and when they’re shadowing should admire how much of a community we are at Aquinas. When they go home at night they should want to tell their parents about Aquinas, and how they want to wear gold and blue.
Administration is slowly but surely making this a full rule. This year, on spirit days, you will be allowed to wear any and all Aquinas shirts. Any shirts that are being made for Aquinas this year will have to follow the dress code rules, only specific colors and fonts on your shirts. This rule will include all clubs, sports, and any other activities. Next year they will be more strict and only allow you to wear navy blue, gray, white, carolina blue, or gold. This rule is intended to stay, so be prepared to retire your hot pink Aquinas shirts.
Many people already talk about the community that we have here, so does there really need to be change? We pray, cheer for our teams, and sing our Alma mater together. Our community at Aquinas is strong and has been for years. We show other schools and adults that we are a family and united with each other. Everyday we wear the same Aquinas logo and name on our clothes. Wearing the same colors as well will look pretty to the eye, but not make our community better as people. Wearing the same colors will not better our students within our school, but it will change others outside of our schools opinion on us.
Another concern is if kids continue to buy STA merch. A main reason why kids are always in the spirit shop, buying new things, is to get new and different spirit wear. No student wants a drawer full of the same colors, they want new colors and different designs. This rule will affect how much is sold in the spirit shop and how much kids wear Aquinas shirts outside of school. This rule might cause students in the future to not buy as many shirts. Instead of having 10-15 Aquinas shirts like the typical STA student they might have 5, which will cause less STA shirts to be worn in public.
Making this rule change will affect how spirit wear will be worn, sold, and perceived. In the next couple years we might see all Aquinas students band together all wearing gold and blue or an end to students wearing spirit wear. Appearance will slowly change at Aquinas whether it’s all students wearing the same colors or spirit wear losing it’s value. Would you support this rule?
