Following a raunchy gaffe including inappropriate themes and confusion, the Pioneer Administration in conjunction with Student Council have released the official themes list for spirit week.

The confusion began when Pihi Info, a popular Instagram account dedicated to informing Pioneer students, posted a list of themes for spirit week which was given to them by a member of the Pioneer Student Council. This list was not approved by the Pioneer Administration and contained direct references to “MILFs” and “DILFs” as a theme for one of the days. Pihi Info quickly took down the false list, but by then, the list had circulated throughout the Pioneer community.

In a statement to the Optimist, Pihi Info reported that the Student Council’s Social Committee believed that they had authorization to put out the list. Juniors Josie Hodges and Alysa Zhu, who run the account, said that the Social Committee believed that they were sharing the correct information, and that “the root of the issue” was a lack of communication.

“The PTSO, Student Council and Staff Advisors, and Administration are not communicating, particularly about Homecoming,” said Hodges and Zhu. “Because of this, it has been hard for us to collect information to share with the public that is agreed upon by everyone. No individual group is at fault, nor should any group be blamed.”

“I had told the Pihi Info Instagram page to talk to me before they had posted anything,” said Student Council Staff Advisor Brooke McCully, who teaches sign language at Pioneer. “But they had believed they had gotten reliable information from Student Council, but Student Council didn’t realize they had to clear everything with administration,” she continued. 

The Pioneer Optimist reached out to the chair of the Student Council’s Social Committee, but she refused to comment.

The official themes were put out on Thursday, Oct. 1, as follows:

Monday, Oct. 4: ‘Fandom Day’, dedicated to representing favored sports teams, colleges, musicians, and others.

Tuesday, Oct. 5: ‘Twin Day,’where students and staff are encouraged to match outfits in pairs. 

Wednesday, Oct. 6: ‘Zoom Fit Day,’ when students wear “dressy” clothes on top with more casual bottoms. Full on pajama garb is also expected, but “pants will be required,” according to the spirit week flyer. 

Thursday, Oct. 7: ‘Throwback Thursday,’ students will dress in fashion that represents their favorite decade.

Homecoming Day, Friday, Oct. 8 will have themes corresponding to each grade’s “official” colors. Freshman will wear gray, sophomores will wear black, juniors will wear white, and seniors will wear purple. 

With the official list released, students are excited for a unique spirit week experience amidst a pandemic school year. 

“It’s a fun, enjoyable thing to do during the week,” said freshman Arianna Pagel. As her first homecoming experience, Pagel says her expectations are high. “After COVID, everything has changed, but I know I’ll be doing most of [spirit days] but not all of them. We’ll see what others do. It gives confidence and it’s just fun for people.”

On the contrary, junior Laureen Medzagoh is not so invested in the concept. “To be honest, both [lists] were lame. I’m not participating really, I’m disillusioned in the process. I’ll do ‘Zoom Fit Day’ and class colors, but that’s it.”

To that point, Advisor Brooke McCully says not everyone can be satisfied. “I’ve been doing this for 17 years,” said McCully. “Not once has the whole school been pleased about something, and we try to make it as good for everybody as we can.”