During community time, masses of students flocked into the Dungeon for what had only been described as “Grade Games.” The crowd looked on in awe as they took their places. With a roar, the runners received their signal to begin. In a dash of fury, the delegates from each grade launched themselves forward into the mattresses. If you are confused, don’t fret, it was confusing for me too. The event, emceed by our Spirit Rep Matthew Zeitz and seniors Henry Dixon and Ryder Anderson, featured three competitions with volunteers from each grade.

The first event was a mattress-surfing race, in which each team member would sprint and jump onto a mattress on the floor, then slide it across the gym floor. A standout performance came from junior Alex Laluyaux, who stunned the onlookers as he propelled himself and the mattress across nearly half of the gym floor. As a result, the juniors took both of the mattress races. Some have raised concerns about the validity of the races due to a difference in mattress materials and sizes, but that’s neither here nor there. With this early momentum, they rushed headfirst into the next event.

The second event was musical chairs, with four members of each grade starting until there was one left sitting. The competitors very quickly started using tactics that one might consider underhanded at best. The winner of this event was Alex Laluyaux, but a remarkable performance came from sophomore Clairmonte Fields, who placed in a close second. Because of the juniors’ dominance, a chant soon emerged along the lines of “beat the juniors.”

The third and final game was a dodgeball game in which seniors were teamed with sophomores and juniors with freshmen. There were some slight miscommunications in the rules when it came to the number of players, and some competitors may have been less than honest when it came to being hit, but apart from those minor speed bumps, the game went swimmingly. The competitive side of the Stuart Hall student body came out, and the excitement was tangible. As one by one the players dropped out, it became evident: the juniors’ number was up. Despite a valiant effort by the few remaining juniors and freshmen, the game had been decided, thus preventing a much-feared junior sweep.

All in all, the Grade Games, which had seemed mysterious and possibly at risk of being boring, were without a doubt one of the most fun uses of community time this year. The atmosphere that the event created fostered both inter-grade bonds as well as some friendly competition. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army once said, “Upon fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.”