On Wednesday, Mar. 31, Maclay upper school students were given a surprise Field Day as a reward for their hard work and patience during this rough year. The day started out normally with students going to their first period class, but once it was over, students were instructed to go to their homerooms in order for the fun to begin. For the next two hours, Maclay upper school students walked around campus with their homerooms and participated in activities and challenges.

“I feel it brought the homeroom closer together because we had so few people, and we had to use so much teamwork,” junior Ellie VanLandingham said. “I personally got a lot closer with a ton of people in my homeroom.”

The activities for the Field Day did not only include athletics, such as kicking field goals and running around the baseball bases, but strategic and intellectual challenges as well, such as picking up fruit loops cereal with toothpicks. It was often up to the homeroom to decide who would be doing what activity and what was the best way to approach it. Additionally, students had to be extra careful with certain activities, as some were all-or-nothing. 

“I liked how it was homerooms and a bunch of smaller teams,” sophomore Oakley Deison said. “I feel like if it was a bunch of really large teams then the same people would be doing everything over and over again. I like how it was split into smaller groups and everyone got to participate a lot.”

After the two hours of doing activities, all students and faculty were invited to a big picnic underneath the oak tree by the Webster gym and senior parking lot. There, students were served Chick-Fil-A and pizza and were able to talk to one another about the day’s events.

“I just feel like everyone came together,” homeroom teacher Kaitlyn Dressel said. “I liked that we were forced to be in our homerooms because in homerooms you can’t really pick your clique. I think it just helped build each other’s relationships.” 

Field Day was not just fun and games, however, as several homerooms were able to win special prizes. The winners for the top five homerooms with the most points were VanTassel in first, Kupiszewski in second, Kline in third, Madden and Day at a tie for fourth and Gimbel in fifth. In addition to points, spirit awards were given to homerooms as well. Kupiszewski won Best Cheer, VanTassel and McCann won Most Spirit, Gimbel and Norment won Best Selfie and Scheer and Obrecht’s won Most Determination.