As the first months of the new school year settled in, the familiar buzz of back-to-school excitement filled the halls of DePaul Prep. As Homecoming Week kicked off, students were met with the usual excitement of pep rallies, game day and dance preparations. But this year, there was an added benefit to DePaul Prep’s Homecoming traditions: students were granted permission to fully dress down.

In past years, students only had the opportunity to fully dress down on Fridays, with every other weekday guideline requiring uniform bottoms. This year, after persistent student government efforts, DePaul Prep students were granted more freedom.

“It was a prideful process,” said senior student government representative Terrance Fabianski. “The DePaul Prep student government team has been pushing for full dress-downs since before we (the class of 2025) even attended the school,” said Fabianski. This year, however, the student government suggested that dress down days be full-attire in order to maximize spirit day participation, as school spirit has been a key focus for DePaul Prep in the past few years.

This change has been met with overwhelming enthusiasm from the student body. Many students took the opportunity to showcase their personal style through the various themes of dress-down days leading up to Homecoming. This year, themes included Jersey Day, Lumberjack Day, Twin Day, Hippie Day and Spirit Day, where students wore this year’s Homecoming T-shirt designed by Helen Menard. These themes, proposed by the student government, “encouraged participation and creativity,” said Bill Grammatis Cooke, a junior representative on student government.

Fabianski and Grammatis Cooke agreed that this was predominantly a student-based decision, as this year administration has “taken a step back,” said Fabianski, emphasizing student-based decisions. Fabianski and Grammatis-Cooke reflected that this privilege will most likely return to DePaul Prep Spirit weeks.

However, faculty is not as eager about this new change. Ricardo Cotto, DePaul Prep assistant dean, said that he “does not envision this privilege coming back next year,” as he believes only a third of the body “actually dressed on theme,”

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to regulate guidelines for dress-down days,” said Cotto.

However, the student perspective is much different, viewing the change as beneficial for morale and participation. An inside look at the new experience this year has shown that many students believe this new privilege has increased student morale and participation.

Amalia Favaro (depicted on the far right), a junior at DePaul Prep, said that this year’s full dress down days made her “much more excited to come to school.”

“There was definitely higher morale,” said Favaro. “It was beneficial not only for school spirit, but also for the comfort of students. It’s valuable to see administration care for that aspect of dress-down days as well,” said Favaro.