Senior’s First Field Day!

Kicking it back to the elementary school days, the Hills West senior class had its first every field day. This exhilarating day was jam-packed with games, snacks, and all of the outdoor fun you could imagine. It was nice to finally have an event dedicated to seniors to spend time socializing with their friends and bringing back old memories from their early days in this district.

Compared to last year’s graduates, we had more opportunities to hold senior-only events despite having social distancing and other COVID protocols in order. With the uncertainty of the pandemic’s conditions improving, there were no significant events during the fall. Rumors spread throughout the year of homecoming happening in the spring with all grades involved, assuming that all restrictions would be lifted by that time. However, with the recent CDC guidelines explaining that masks did not need to be worn outdoors at school, the senior class gathering outside was no longer an issue.

At first, students were hesitant to remove their masks because it has been over a year since the mask mandate was put in place, but the new guidelines created a level of comfort without masks for this event.
Due to these new rules, senior Victoria LoGiudice was excited for field day. “We have had our faces covered for so long that I started to forget what people looked like, so it was nice to be able to tell whether they were smiling or laughing, “Victoria stated. She also considered that having a considerable school activity without masks created a sense of normality, which most people have been looking forward to within this past year.

But we can’t ignore the fact that field day was made possible by our student government officers. According to Max Schriro [12], “Kristie Raneri, the class president, initially thought of it, and the rest of the student government quickly got behind it as well.” After presenting the idea to Dr. Catapano, he and the rest of the student government discussed tee shirt designs, games, and other amenities like ice cream trucks. Max believed that having a field day for the senior class was the perfect way to have an outdoor activity for the senior class. We didn’t have the traditional pep rally accompanied by homecoming this year. “We knew that something had to be done to celebrate our competitive nature and last week of school. Our solution: field day”, Schriro explained.

One of the most noteworthy parts of field day includes the games, which didn’t fail to entertain the competitors and the watchers. This year’s lineup consisted of a relay race, the sponge toss, and the potato sack race. Senior Victoria LoGiudice participated in the relay and had a wonderful time doing so.

“The relay race was a blast. I felt like I was in elementary school again, and that rush of excitement hit me”, Victoria stated. She also thought that this experience was something that brought back many childhood memories.