Celebrating Cowhide Week: A Showcase of Redwood’s Spirit and Traditions 

As the 69th Cowhide rolls around, teachers and students happily come together to share about their fun traditions!

By: Ruby Houser and Isabel Copeland

During Cowhide week, McKenzie Velasquez, ‘25, participates in the games and dress-up days to help represent the school and show the Redrood spirit.

Velasquez talking about her traditions for Cowhide day, said, “Me and my friends go to Dennys in the morning, we go there for breakfast before school.”

Jeremiah Avila, ‘25, finds joy in the warm embrace of Cowhide traditions and cherishes the opportunity to celebrate the rich culture of Redwood.

Avila jokingly said, “I like to visit the local barns, you know, get a little pat on the cows. It’s for good luck. I’ll make visits to the chickens sometimes too, not a lot though.”

“Sometimes I like to put on the inflatable cow costume, and go do the little cow dance,” said Avila.

Emilia Galvan, ’25, is eagerly anticipating her first year at Cowhide and feels a deep sense of excitement for the traditions that she is going to create.

Galvan said, “I’m excited for the dress-up weeks. I can’t wait for the 90s dress-up day. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I hope we win this year. Class of 2025 bring it home,” said Galvan.

Josh Abbott, ‘25, shows his school spirit as he is a flag runner for Cowhide, and his traditions help to represent the culture of Redwood.

Abbott said, “I’m a flag runner for Cowhide, so I definitely make sure I’m all warmed up for the game and all hyped up and ready to go.”

Abbott truly shines with his enthusiastic participation and has established an exciting tradition of rocking a cow onesie.

Abbott said, “I dress up for all the spirit days and show how much the school means to me.”

“I usually like to show up to school with my cow onesie. I like to skip class all day and just hype people up,” said Abbott.

Mrs. Duerre is the ASL teacher at Redwood High School. She has a personal tradition of wearing a Cowhide onesie, and to make a point to her students about what is going on all week.

Duerre said, “I have a Cowhide onesie. So I wear my Cowhide onesie on Cowhide day.”

“I put everything up on the board and I make sure they know all of the events daily, so that way they participate, because participation is pretty important,” said Duerre.

Every year on the week leading up to Cowhide, Duerre and her students decorate her classroom Cowhide theme.

Duerre had her students color pages of cows and finger-spelled words of Cowhide and RHS in her classroom to hang up on the walls.

“Cowhide week the kids are checked out, and they should be. They should be able to enjoy it and participate, and that is what the culture of Redwood is about,” says Duerre. 

Tags: clubs & lifestyles, cowhide, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, traditions