The Second U.G. Field Day Establishes a New Annual Tradition

This year on October 18th, NEST+m had its second Field Day ever! First organized by Student Government in the spring of 2019, the goal of Field Day is to have fun, increase cross-grade interaction, boost school spirit, and have some healthy competition. Students went to East River Park and engaged in events like relay races, tug of war, football toss, basketball, and capture the flag. If students didn’t want to participate in the athletic events, they were able to sit down and chat with others, draw, do homework, and just hang out. Most students who went to Field Day had positive feedback, many of them mentioning that is was a great way to have a stress free Friday. 

This year’s Field Day took place in October, instead of May. Despite the colder weather, students had a lot of fun including freshmen, for whom this was their first Field Day. Alexandra Sokolowska ‘23 said, “I had so much fun. All the activities were amazing. I got to do a lot of things I wouldn’t be able to do in school.” Another freshman, Demetrious Giannaolos ‘23 mentioned that Field Day let him see his friends and make more friends. These reactions show that Field Day is achieving its goals. Last year, many seniors did not show up to Field Day because they had a severe case of Senioritis. This year, however, most seniors turned up. This was very exciting and Blue Team Captain Fiona Chen ‘20 stated, “I enjoyed being captain even though my team was an extreme mess… it felt nice being able to ‘be in charge’ if that makes sense”. I know many captains loved leading their team and encouraging everyone to participate.

The social aspects of FIeld Day were definitely a hit, but it is the activities of course that determined which team won. Many people’s competitive side came out, which generated lots of team spirit and excitement. Those who participated in the relay races all had people from their team jumping up and down and screaming. Energy was so high and shouts of encouragement for each race filled the field. Kickball was equally fun for people who participated in it. Although some people completely missed the ball when kicking it, everyone laughed with the person because they had done something like that previously. Football, like last year, was pretty competitive and the players were all very into the game. Mr. Yusah, the theatre teacher, said that there were some amazing plays. If these competitions weren’t someone’s cup of tea and they liked basketball, there was a court for that. Many people were playing in the park adjacent to the field, so all areas were pretty accessible. The teachers even got to participate in the competition: they were wrapped in toilet paper, and the teacher that got covered the fastest won some points for their team. In the end, Grey Team won, but everyone was able to have a day full of good memories and high spirits. There were events for everyone at Field Day. Everyone there had a lot of fun, whether they were participating in the activities, or simply playing basketball, video games, skateboarding, drawing or just socializing. 

Overall, Field Day was a success. The ecstatic ambiance left students all energetic after arriving back to the classrooms. When the announcement over the speaker sounded, many Grey Team students let out a shout and celebrated. Field Day left the seniors with many memories and gave other students something to look forward to in their coming years.