Lord of the Flies or the Eagle Games?

Christy Chow

Armed with long sticks and donning streaks of paint, a pack of teenagers wandered around aimlessly to find their next destination. They crossed a raging river while hissing at another pack trying to do the same. They slipped in the mud as they fought others for a chicken, forming temporary alliances with one pack against the others. They emerged from the woods with smudged paint and wild looks in their eyes. No, this is not a scene from the Lord of the Flies. This is a scene from Dalat’s first annual Eagle Games.

The Eagle Games are a new experiment for Dalat’s high schoolers, replacing the long-standing tradition of Track & Field Day. Throughout the years, middle school and high school students have had the pleasure of enjoying the athleticism and competition that Track & Field Day provided. It was a day of running, throwing, jumping, and sweating. It was, however, also a day of a lot of sitting around and waiting for the next event to happen. Many students expressed disinterest and didn’t feel as if it catered to all of Dalat’s population. So the Eagle Games were created to remedy this problem.

The Eagle Games resemble Track & Field Day in many ways - there are still four team colors - red, blue, green, and yellow. Both have elements of athleticism and competitiveness. But the Eagle Games has its own special twist. Each color represents a team - Blaze, Wave, Quake, and Bolt respectively - with subgroups of six students within smaller teams, each led by a senior captain. Also, only the high school students are invited to participate in this day. This switch effectively makes each team much smaller and closer-knit. Instead of each student choosing a couple of events for the day, all 8 of the activities are mandatory. These activities ranged from absolute silliness (throwing a rubber chicken around) to a difficult obstacle course (a minuscule Spartan Race).

Even though many of the events required getting wet, dirty, and sweaty, smiles remained from beginning to end. Few grumbles were heard even when the sky opened up and poured down the heavy rain typical of Penang.

Overall, the Eagle Games created a day where students could get outside and just have fun with one another in nature. Though many will miss Track & Field Day, many will also look forward to the new tradition of the Eagle Games. After all, new friendships developed, leadership skills cultivated, and a lot of laughter was had. The Eagle Games provided a time to destress and forget about homework, tests, and, for the seniors, college applications.

As Joseph Hsu, one of the senior leaders on the Blaze team put it, “The Eagle Games was a great substitute for Track & Field Day because it catered to both athletic and non-athletic students. Everyone could engage in the various activities and make new friends no matter which grade they were in.”