Each month, ASB chooses to shout out students for their admirable characteristics by selecting them for student, spirit, artist and athlete of the month. For the month of December, Payten Mortensen was chosen as spirit of the month. Mortensen is only a freshman at Ripon High, but she has already left an impression in the short time she has been there. Mortensen is known for her kindness, involvement, extroversion and, most of all, her school spirit.

Mortensen dresses up for all of the school spirit days and tends to go all out, wearing bright colors and funny costumes. Mortensen said why it is important to have spirit for her, “It’s important to have spirit because if none of the student body has spirit, it’s just kind of bland and boring, but if it does have spirit, it brings a little more light to the boring school we already have to do.”

Mortensen is the president of the photography club, participates in volleyball and track and field, is enrolled in honors and AP classes, and is part of the journalism class at Ripon High. Outside of school, Mortensen participates in club volleyball, spends time with friends, is in the 4-H Club and volunteers around the elementary schools. Even though it is only her first year at Ripon High, she has had connections to the school for many years, with her mom being Mrs. Mortensen, a fellow spirited teacher on campus.

At the end of the day, school spirit isn’t a graded assignment, so having school spirit is a choice. So why choose to dress up on spirit days? When asked this question, Mortensen said, “I choose to dress up because not many people have the courage to dress up, and I feel like when there are people who do dress up, other people feel less embarrassed to show a little spirit.” Congratulations to Payten Mortensen for being elected spirit of the month!