Fairmont State University’s Spirit Week
During the week of March 15th-19th, Fairmont State hosted its first annual Spirit Week. This Spirit Week consisted of five days in which social media challenges, wellness initiatives, and a service project to help the community. The days included: Maroon Madness Monday, Tuesday was the Locust Avenue Litter Cleanup and Personal Hygiene Drive, Wellness Wednesday, Throwback Thursday, and Falcon Friday. Voting for Spirit Week Royalty began on Wednesday the 17th, and the two winners were crowned on Friday the 19th.
Royalty Court Nominees were:
- Rebecca Luketic, Senior
- Erica Lawrence, Senior
- Ashley Doyle, Senior
- Madyson Frashier, Senior
- Laura Osborne, Senior
- Katherine Conley, Senior
- Grant Elliott, Junior
- Asia-Lynn Cooper, Junior
For Maroon Madness Monday, Grant Elliott wanted to give the people something funny, but also represented his usual style. So, he sported his favorite Fairmont State shirt with a denim jacket and jeans. He also revealed that he wanted to run for Spirit Week Royalty because, it is “a cool thing we do on campus and I wanted to give the school a candidate that is different.” Grant wants to thank all the people who voted for him and hopes that he was a fan favorite, “We will get them next year and take home the crown.”
Rebecca Luketic participated in the Locust Avenue Litter Cleanup on Tuesday the 16th. “It always feels good to clean up the university and to help out the community. It was great to be able to actually get out and do something and to show the community that the college students care,” she said. Rebecca ran for Spirit Week Royalty to represent Student Government and show how much Fairmont State meant to her. She would like to congratulate the winners and said that it was an honor to just be nominated, “I’m thankful for everyone who voted and also supported me along the way. I hope that this is something the university keeps doing to keep student organizations involved.”
On Wellness Wednesday, Laura Osborne posted about her devotional time with God and began to open up about her time with God. “That is the most important time of my day to get to know who I am in Christ and what kind of person I am called to be... I have found the only effective way for me to combat that is through help from God’s word and knowing the promises God gives me as a believer.” Laura ran for Spirit Week Royalty to represent Chi Alpha and their values as an organization. She wants to shout out Chi Alpha and the wonderful community she has experienced through the organization. “If anyone is looking for a community to get involved in, Chi Alpha is where it’s at!”
Throwback Thursday came around and Katie Conley wore her mom’s denim jacket from the 80s. “It was one of her favorites and she gave it to me this past year when we found it in storage. I’m glad I finally got to show it off!” she said. She then told me that she ran for Spirit Week Royalty because she is graduating this semester, and she didn’t get to run for Homecoming due to the pandemic. Katie is so grateful for all the support she got throughout Spirit Week. “My sorority backed me from the beginning and helped me campaign. I’m happy I was able to have the experience!”
Asia-Lynn Cooper represented Fairmont State by wearing her “Welcome Home” maroon shirt and being herself on Falcon Friday. She is a Resident Assistant in Morrow Hall, so she is always a representative of the campus community. Asia was one out of two of the Queens crowned as Spirit Week Royalty. She wanted to run for Spirit Week Royalty because she wanted to represent Falcons with Pride and bring attention to how it’s an amazing club and provides access and resources for LGBTQ+ students. When she found out she was nominated, she started campaigning as soon as possible. Her and her friends went around campus taking pictures for the campaign. She also put-up flyers around campus, with a QR code that directed to her campaign Instagram. “I felt very proud to be crowned alongside Erica. I think we both are great representatives of our organizations and of Fairmont State in general,” Asia revealed.
Erica Lawrence was also crowned as Spirit Week Royalty. She ran for Royalty because she wanted to be more involved with things on campus, other than the organizations she was already in. When her chapter president asked if she would be the one to run for their organization, she thought it would be fun and something different. She was ready to do it, because she also had not run for anything during her three years at Fairmont State, and wanted that experience of running for something and potentially winning. Erica didn’t have much time to prepare flyers and things to post around campus, but she was able to create flyers to post on social media. “I thought that was cool, because with the spirit week in general being virtual, make my flyers virtual as well.” She also has a lot of friends and followers on her social media, and thought it’d be a clever idea to use it! After being crowned alongside Asia-Lynn she said, “I thought it was great it’s not your typical king and queen, but it still gives equal opportunity for two people to win and share the royalty. I think it also represents diversity on campus that we didn’t have a traditional queen and king. I personally do not know Asia, but this has allowed us to become friends on social media platforms and hopefully in person as well.”
