“Anything But a Backpack” Day Takes North Shore By Storm

It’s Chanukah! Jews from all around the world rejoice in G-d’s miracles and our dedication to serving Him over the course of an eight-day “festival of lights.” We light the menorah every night, recite special blessings, and offer thanksgiving to G‑d for “delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few ... the wicked into the hands of the righteous.”

This year, in honor of Chanukah, North Shore’s very own Headmaster’s Council organized a School Spirit Week to get even the most boring among us to tap their feet to those old Chanukah melodies.

This past Thursday was just one of the many exciting events planned for the week. Thursday marked North Shore’s first-ever ban on the backpack. Liberated from the back-breaking strain, North Shore students happily flaunted their creativity as they strutted down the hallway with their very own-well, anything! Anything, but a backpack. From baby carriages to shopping carts, mop buckets, and hobo bindles, coolers, and suitcases (even down to those backpacks that “choose not to identify as such”), students of all grades hopped on the bandwagon (yes, I mean that in the literal sense; you know who you are!) to goof around all in the name of good ol’ Chanukah fun!

Though for some of us, going about without a backpack was no laughing matter. In fact, it meant “only the real deal,” for Junior, Alex Sutton. Zooming across the halls with his little pink speedster, complete with an official NY license plate, Alex stands as the epitome of what you might say is “pretty comical” here at school. When asked about his inspiration for the memorable “non-backpack,” Alex says, “I remembered I had the cart so I went looking for it and then I saw the license plate and it was a perfect size and I believe that putting a license plate on a small little toy car would be pretty comical. And it was, to be honest.” Comical, indeed. Though if you spotted Alex taking a fast lap at max horsepower, you would have also recognized the kind of dedication that lies within our students. Alex’s hot wheels were practically racing down the halls at lightning speed; “I even put a little bit of WD-40 in the wheels to make it ride better,” says Alex. Make sure to catch Alex and his pink machine at Formula One!

For Senior Andrew Fozailow, the words “go big or go home” so very aptly ring true. At first, says Andrew, “I was debating a few different things to use for the non-backpack day such as a bucket, a laundry bin, and a suitcase.” Yet these just simply would not cut it; after all, most students did use buckets, laundry bins, and suitcases as their “non-backpack.” To surely top those “non-backpacks” that are just okay, Andrew knew that it would take more than a bucket. “It hit me that I have a garbage can that was big enough to hold my stuff, but light enough to carry around the building. I also knew that nobody would use a garbage can. To me, the garbage can was a great surprise that would have everyone laughing.”

As North Shore students finally return to fully in-person classes for the first time in a while, school spirit is beginning to reignite our campus! North Shore is abuzz with the Chanukah cheer that seems pretty contagious (in a good way, for once)! Whether it’s our “non-backpacks,” North Shore’s Got Talent, our school-wide Menorah lighting, our joyous morning Hallels, or our Chanukah Chagigah, the North Shore halls are alive with the sound of Chanukah oh Chanukah, we light the menorah!