Hallways covered in colored paper, drawings and lights signify the start of Edmond Memorial High School’s signature Swine Week fundraiser. The fully immersive event began in the main gym with EMHS students coming together to raise money for this year’s recipient, Peaceful Family Oklahoma.

“Swine Week is a philanthropy week that aims to bring awareness and raise money for a cause in the metro community,” senior Sam Arter said. “I think it’s a great way to introduce students to organizations that they otherwise wouldn’t know about.”

Each day of Swine Week has a different theme decided by EMHS’s student council. Monday’s theme was class colors, and StuCo asked every grade to dress up in a certain color; freshmen wore red, sophomores wore blue, juniors wore white and seniors wore pink. The class competition assembly took place during second period and featured many games where each grade competed against the other to gain points throughout the hour. 

“We were here until 3 a.m. last night decorating and creating today’s assembly,” StuCo members Turner deFreese and Allison Wright said. “We always have a way to scramble at the last minute and [find] participants for the games, but it always comes together. We wouldn’t be able to do it without our fun students.”

Games such as milk chugging, condiment dumping, relay races and much more show the fun side of EMHS and bring the school spirit energy to an all-time high throughout the grades. Participating in the games shows school spirit and supports a good cause.

“I was in the ‘slip and slide,’ and I enjoyed it because I had my shirt ripped off by my friend,” junior participant Cannon Bushman said. “In this event, you take some ice cream ingredients and some other gross foods across a slippery mat and mix them in a bowl for someone to eat.”

The relay race was the assembly’s other big event, pitting the grades against each other in a race. Chugging a Sprite, eating a banana, and a McDouble and slapping a StuCo member in the face with a fish summed up the relay race. Volunteering to take part in these games not only provides a super entertaining time but encourages students to donate money for the Peaceful Family.

“I participated in the class relay where we competed against other classes to see who can complete tasks the fastest,” Arter said. “I decided to participate because I think that Peaceful Family Oklahoma is an amazing organization, and I want to do my part in raising for the cause.”

All of these events make school a completely different experience for a week. While other Oklahoma high schools have their own spin on Swine Week, EMHS was the original school and started the Swine Week fundraiser, making this week special for the new students.

“I love that there is an entire class that has never seen a Monday assembly or Swine Week at all,” Wright said. “We have the opportunity and the honor to introduce them to Swine Week and that’s the best part of this assembly.”

At the end of the assembly, the senior class had the most points, winning the assembly as usual. The class colors assembly is StuCo’s way to not only raise an amazing amount of money but to unite the whole school together to ensure the rest of the week goes amazing.

Contact Ian Humphreys at [email protected]