By: Hannah Smith

Cotton balls, lint rollers, soda, balloons, ping pong, tic-tacs, marbles, twister, bananas, laser tag, refried beans, and Mean Girls.  This isn’t just a random list of items and activities; all the things on this list and more could have been found at the sophomore class bonding event that was held from Friday, March 4 to Saturday, March 5.  It was entertaining, fun, and at times, side-splittingly funny.

This bonding event was a continuation of last year’s Commitment to Graduate, or C2G, program, sponsored by Jostens, whose goal is to raise graduation rates.  Last year, the then-freshmen held a week long “Olympics,” featuring a variety of winter activities.  The idea behind these bonding activities is that a class that works together and has fun together, graduates together.   

This year, the sophomores had a lock-in type activity at the school, with laser tag, a scavenger hunt, a Minute to Win It competition, and the “Funky Food Freak Out.”  Students were randomly put into teams of eight to compete in the competitions for prizes like candy and gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts.  45 sophomores attended this exciting event.  Laser tag was played in the gym, with inflatable barriers.  The teams played various games, including “Captain” and “Zombie.”  While the sophomores were waiting for their time in the gym, they competed in a Minute to Win It competition.  This featured various small challenges that the team had to complete in a minute or less to acquire points.  Some of the favorite challenges were “Stick to it,” where a team member had to catch ping pong balls on lint rollers, “Face the Cookie,” where the competitor had to use their muscles in their face to move an oreo cookie from their forehead to their mouth, and “How’s it Hangin’” where the team member had a banana tied to a belt, hanging about a foot above the floor, and had to swing the banana to knock oranges into a hula hoop.  These events resulted in a lot of laughs.

Later in the night, teams competed to finish a scavenger hunt.  Teams found puzzle pieces of a school map along with a riddle telling where the next piece and riddle could be found.  When all the pieces had been found, the map could be assembled, and on the back, there was a drawing indicating the location of the final destination.  The winner of this competition also received points.  The hunt happened rather late in the night, and so many over-tired sophomores were sprinting around the school to find the next clue.  It was at-times frustrating, but also a lot of fun.

The final competition of the night was the “Funky Food Freak Out.”  Even those who organized the event were unprepared as to what the event would entail.  The teams were simply told that they had to run up, one team member at a time, eat whatever was in the cup, and run back to the team and send the next team member.  The foods were everything from pumpkin to refried beans to jalapeño peppers.  It left everyone gagging, and questioning why they were eating such odd foods at 4 AM.  After this, there was an M&M challenge, in which the M&M’s were buried in a pile of whipped cream, and team members had to go up and, without using their hands, remove the M&M’s from the whipped cream.  Everyone was sporting great whipped cream beards and mustaches!

The activities began winding down, and many of the sophomores settled in to watch Mean Girls, a favorite movie of many of the kids.  The winning teams were announced, and the winners of the scavenger hunt received a large bag of candy to share, and the winning team overall received the gift cards.  As fun as the scheduled activities were, some of the more amusing things happened in-between competitions.  There was a giant twister game, hacky sack, dance circles, interesting attempts at the worm, impressive gymnastic displays, and a rousing, if slightly off-key, chorus of “Lean on Me.”     

On Wednesday, March 30, the sophomores had a follow-up assembly for the C2G program.  All the sophomores had their pictures taken in graduation caps and gowns, and the pictures will be posted throughout the school.  They were reminded that they are nearly halfway through their high school career, and that before they know it, they will be walking across the stage, hopefully with the very same people that they sat in the auditorium with that day.  The sophomores also enjoyed a (somewhat embarrassing) video of the footage from the bonding event, and learned about their next fundraising activity: a spaghetti dinner that will be happening on Friday, April 8.  Come and support the sophomore class at this fundraiser!!