This year’s senior class has released an energy of Red Devil pride that has become contagious among both students and teachers at Hinsdale Central High School.

Red and white apparel has become a Friday necessity. The football team has countless fans — both home and away. And with homecoming just a week away, school spirit continues to reach new heights.

From themed dress-up days to class float building, this year’s spirit week will be filled with the same traditions, but a newfound morale may set a precedent for generations to come.

Pam Kalafut, student activities director, said the loss of beloved coach and teacher Bill Huskisson last fall coupled with issues between school administrators heavily deflated the spirit of Central.

“The morale last year was very, very low for a lot of reasons, and it affected all of us, and it really affected the kids,” said Kalafut. “This senior class is extremely spirited and strong and they’ve made decisions about how things are going to be.”

This summer Kalafut and 20 students participated in a leadership camp in Santa Barbara, Calif., which inspired students to improve school spirit.

Filled with new ideas, seniors Lizzy Carroll, Paige Stewart, and Jason McClain returned home and created SSS — Students and Staff Spirit.

“Last year it’s not that people weren’t spirited, it’s just that we thought things could be even better this year as far as making it a better place and happier place where people want to go to school,” Lizzy said.

SSS helped light the flame for the fire of spirit spreading through today’s halls. While increasing student spirit at football games and hosting various events, the club also does something every month for teachers. They spent this week’s Red and White Friday delivering cookies and coffee to all teachers and staff.

The club’s title paved the way for this year’s “Red Hot” slogan. Seniors opened the year distributing boxes of Red Hots to the freshmen, and hats and T-shirts emblazoned with “Sit with me I’m red hot” have become popular apparel among students.

Stewart said Student Council and new principal, Kevin Pobst, have also helped push school spirit, and now on Friday it is hard to find a student or teacher not wearing red and white.

The week will be filled with pep rallies, a parade, sports games and of course the dance, but this is just the beginning when it comes to school pride.