The Infamous Spirit Shirt

The Spirit Shirts are either something we don’t mind wearing or absolutely dread. But how Skittles involved in choosing these outrageous colors?

On Spirit Days when we are forced to dig through our closets to find the caution tape yellow, the Fanta orange, the pretty purple, and the average teal shirts, many of us are curious as to why these specific colors were chosen.

One day in class I was waiting for the bell to ring, and overheard a discussion regarding the spirit shirts. I heard someone say that Skittles, the popular fruity candy, played a role in the creation of these shirts.

My first reaction was to find out the real story and let all of you know why these “interesting colors” were chosen.

I went to the Student Activities Director, Mrs. RoseAnn Holmes, to see what she had to say about the origin of CB spirit shirts.

“Back when we had portables, I remember we were having our first student council meeting in the spring,” she recalls. “The council at the time were extremely enthusiastic and suggested getting class spirit shirts and all I remember is that Skittles played a role.”

At the time this happened, Mr. Rolf Schumann was actually the Students Activities Director and recalls the moment the shirts were created like it was yesterday.

“It was about ’99 or something like that, and the ASB president and vice president wanted to do something a little different and they mentioned spirit shirts,” Schumann shares. “So, we came up with the design of the front that says spirit and with the class years on the back.”

Schumann then suggested an idea that was met with rejection and displeasure from the student council.

“We were in room 702 and discussing the colors of the spirit shirts and I was kind of thinking basic colors, like blue and red, white and grey, and the kids hated that,” Schmann exclaims.

I know what you are thinking — the colors Mr. Schumann suggested really don’t scream SPIRIT. Schumann WENT on to mention how our outrageous colors were chosen, that more or less actually do pop out and yell SPIRIT.

“There was a kid in the room with a big of Skittles,” Schumann mentions. “All the sudden, the Skittles spill. Immediately it clicked and everyone decided the shirts should be Skittles colors.”

At first, Schumann was hesitant against the idea, but he realized all the council was on board with it, so he just went with it.

When he was sharing this story, I thought red is a major color in the Skittles rainbow, SO why wasn’t that chosen? But Ms. Holmes and Mr. Schumann reassured me that they didn’t want to use any CB colors for the spirit shirts.

Who would’ve thought that the delicious fruity candy of Skittles was the deciding factor on what our Spirit shirts colors should be?

“Ever since then, the colors and shirts just stuck with us and never have changed,” Holmes declares. Even if we wanted to change the colors, it’s just too late to do so.”

The mystery is solved — now we all know exactly why these bright crazy colors were chosen to represent our classes, whether we love them or hate them.

Although these infamous spirit shirts may not be our favorite, they have become a huge part of Christian Brothers and the spirit the community shares.