On Tuesday, January 4th, at 9 am SPUD (Students Performing Unselfish Deeds), held their opening assembly in the North Gym. It was revealed that the SPUD theme is “Madagascar,” based on the Dreamworks movie. The assembly opened with a skit that described what happened to SPUD, and how through this week the school will be able to “find” SPUD. The assembly also included multiple dance numbers to introduce characters such as the infamous penguins.

After that, SPUD played videos recapping the decorating weekend and re-introduced this year’s recipients. This year SPUD has chosen to give to Bridges, The Children’s Hospital (OU DM), Citizens Caring for Children, and the Andersen Family. The audience also got to view video interviews with past recipients, as they discussed how SPUD week changed their lives. The assembly also recognized the hard work of this year’s SPUD Chairs and Video Chairs. The following week’s events were announced, and they played the traditional “Good Morning SPUD” video. “Good Morning SPUD” is a tradition where students can pay to nominate their friends to be woken up by a loud air horn. These wake-up calls are subsequently videoed and used at the opening and closing assemblies. To close, the SPUD Chairs said, “Let SPUD 2022 begin!” and committee members streamed out and tossed balloons at the cheering crowd.

Overall, the 2022 SPUD opening was just the beginning of a fun-filled week. As Olivia Brackin, a SPUD Chair, said “Opening Assembly was a great start to the week! I hope it inspired others to get involved and do things for the greater good!”