Skip to main content

Never Back Down

Albert Jeong

It was March 1st, the day after the Senior Transition retreat. Seniors gathered at school to head to the paintball arena. Everyone was hyped to enjoy a class activity after the dreadful class meeting about transitioning to college. For some people, it was the first time holding a paintball gun, but for others were experienced weaponizers.

After less than 1 hour, we finally arrived at the War Museum, which had the paintball arena beside it. The team division was set, and players were traded left and right. In the end, the trade between Min Guk Kong (12) and Jeremy Worten (12) declared the completeness of the team, and Mr. Steinkamp casually joined Jeremy and many other athletes.

The game was Capture the Flag. A team wins when two of its players touch the enemy’s base. I was with Mr. Steinkamp’s team, and he called out the offensive strategies: “We’ll have a group of three. One group will play the middle, and the other two will play left and right lane. The middle player will gradually push with the left lane players while covering and open firing when pushing. Left lane player will find an aggressive angle to eliminate opposing players. For right lane player, play really defensive and hit long-range shots.”

The order was given, and the game was played. The plan worked, as Jeremy and Trevor Ronning (12) touched down the base camp. In round two, the sides were switched, and we played the lower side of the map. Because the arena was on the mountain, one camp was in a higher position than the other one. So, when our team was playing on the lower side of the map, Mr. Steinkamp called out a new game plan: “We’ll play like round one, except right lane play aggressive and left lane play defensive.”

Trevor added onto the plan, “We’ll get early control on the middle lane because the enemy won’t be expecting it.” 

The strategy worked as planned, and our team won both Capture the Flag rounds. Both winners and losers were so ready to eat their lunch because the tough cardio workout had enlarged our hunger. With sweat and hunger, both seniors and sponsors left for lunch at New World Park and headed home. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...

Varsity Sports Award Ceremony

By Amos Koay On April 22, the Varsity Sports Awards was held in Harbor Hall. This was when people who had joined a Varsity sport would get acknowledgment for all the blood, sweat, and tears they sacrificed to fight for Dalat.  Many amazing athletes got the recognition they deserved. Some notable people are Romeo Kontsas (11), Isaac Lee (12), Naomi Weidemann (12), Josia DeJager (12), Joshua Morrison (12), DJ Yost (12), Caitlin Chan (11), and Alexia Nyul (12), who all got awarded MVP in their respective sports.   Although many people got different awards, one athlete stood above the rest of the players. One exceptional athlete who was in soccer, basketball, and track, where he broke multiple ACSC and school records for his sprints—the Male Athlete of the Year, Kyle Tang.  The following quote is what Kyle Tang (12) had to say about his achievements: "Winning athlete of the year is an incredible honor, especially with the amount of sacrifices I've spent improving myself ...