Battle of the Factions

Vivien Chang

November 7, 2018, the sound of cheers reverberated through Youth Park— the battle between Blaze, Wave, Quake, and Bolt had begun. From station to station, each team competed for beads—ultimately leading to the wonderful Seahorse Trophy.

That morning, each team separated into their factions based on the team color. Blaze with their enthusiastic cheer, Wave with their music, Quake with their face paint, and Bolt with their energetic smiles: each team trooped towards the new parking lot and into the buses. As the buses arrived at the Youth Park, each team slowly progressed towards the stadium where directions of the event were given.

Throughout the day, each faction separated into eight smaller units to rotate through eight stations. Each unit consisted of different grade members, which in turn encouraged teamwork and new friendship formation. Going from Capture the Chicken, crossing the road using tires, to Chinese Checkers, a wide variety of activities with different types of teamwork were presented. Despite the students having a blast throughout the day, there were also students who witnessed the mischief of the devilish monkeys in the Youth Park. They jumped from one tree to the next, snuck up to steal snacks, and blocked passages with their fierce expressions.

As an intermission, the senior class ExComm also prepared a small announcement about the upcoming Splash and Dash charity run event during lunch. After finally drying off, the senior class president was once again drenched in order to show an example of what the Splash and Dash event would look like. After lunch, each unit returned to complete the last four activities of the day.

As the day slowly came to an end, each unit returned their beads to the faction leader and the anticipation for the winners begun. The rest of Wednesday, everyone was tired out. However, Thursday was the day the winners were announced. With a very close difference, Blaze took the Seahorse Trophy home this year. According to Nicholas Khor (12), the senior class president, “Putting aside the final results, it was a great atmosphere - the camaraderie from the teams, the friendly competition, and the frequent laughs from humorous moments made the event a pleasure to take part in."

As much as it was tiring to complete all the activities, the memories were just as worth it.