Instead of doing homework or spending time with friends, senior Mia Hirshfeld spent her Saturday afternoon sticking thin metal legs into plastic flamingos.

Hirshfeld and fellow Spirit Club captains Corbin Robinson, Libby Smith and Reese Stepanian, along with other Upper School students, devoted hours of their weekend to giving North Campus a complete makeover.

On Oct. 23, unsuspecting carpoolers encountered a flamboyance of flamingos awaiting them in the Plaza’s bushes. Atrium passersby looked up to see a glittery pink banner reading “Let’s Go Party.” Students strolling through the Academic Commons beheld the “Maverick Dreamhouse,” bedecked with pink pennants and paper lanterns.

On the morning of Oct. 21, the plastic flamingos lay legless within the depths of cardboard boxes. The lanterns were still flat, crumpled disks stacked on top of one another in plastic packaging.

Over the next hour, dozens of hands inserted each individual leg into each flamingo body and weaved wire framework into each paper lantern.

“Purchasing everything, submitting receipts and getting people to show up to help took a lot of planning in advance,” Hirshfeld said.

To her and many others, seeing the hard work pay off was well worth the hectic preparations.

“Spirit can really bring people together,” Hirshfeld said.

As Smith untangled yards of pink pennants, she also admitted that preparations for Kinkaid Week involve a lot of work.

“But it’s still so fun,” Smith said. “And fun is what should come to mind when people think of school spirit.”