Fall Field Day made its return to CHS for the second year in a row. Through multiple unique activities, the newly developed tradition of Fall Field Day is about students competing with their forums for bragging rights in a day centered around bonding as a forum. Rosie Matish, a Crabtree forumette, thought that Field Day did just that.
“I just felt very connected to my forum in that moment,” Matish said.
The history of Fall Field Day is a topic not many know. It was introduced years ago, but at some point was removed from the school calendar. The event first made its return in the 2023-2024 school year. The CHS staff had contemplated the concept, as they wanted a chance for students to bond and give forums a chance to have a year of togetherness rather than beginning to feel connected as the school year ended, which was the case with Spring Field Day. Ryan Silvester, CHS Social Studies teacher, suggested the idea to Dean Marci, and Silvester was put in charge of planning the day. Courtney Kiley, a CHS science teacher, worked alongside Silvester.
This school year’s Fall Field Day did not stick to the original plan. Fall Field Day was supposed to take place on September 24, but unfortunately took a rain check. For Kiley and Silvester, having the day they developed be canceled was upsetting.
“Ryan and I made the call based on, looking at, like, six different weather forecasts,” Kiley said. “It looked like it was going to rain all morning, and then it didn’t really rain, and I felt super guilty.” Kiley discussed how the pair had decided to reschedule the day since they already had all the materials ready for the forums to compete. The process to reschedule was decided among forum leaders, and it was quite simple.
“Ryan sent out a sign up genius, and we talked about it in a forum leader meeting. So a lot of the forums just signed up,” Kiley said. Thus, a new Field Day plan began. The first event to take place was senior Simon Says, which occurred on the back lawn of CHS on Wednesday, October 2. Following Simon Says was the Decathlon, which was during various forum times this past week.
The decathlon featured 10 unique events that showcased a variety of strengths throughout CHS students. The events consisted of a relay race, word search, pictionary, Lego building, wheelbarrow race, paper plane construction, an elephant march, cookie eating and a sack race. Silvester noted his excitement about the decathlon.
“Coming up with the decathlon, 10 different events that felt unique and featured a lot of different skills, that was the most fun I’ve had with Field Day so far,” Silvester said. The Simon Says tournament is a senior class only competition which results in one senior left standing; this year’s winner was Clara Freeth! Silvester, for years, has attended Huron High Schools band camp and took inspiration from there.
“It’s just, I wanted to build a senior tradition and at band camp we do this big, kind of silly event, like Field Day, and at the end, all the seniors play musical chairs. And it’s a thing you look forward to all three years, and then you finally get to do it your senior year.”
Despite the bumpy road, Fall Field Day managed to make its return. Kylie and Silvester are already looking forward to next year’s Fall Field Day with all of the forums closer together. The laughter and light heartedness of Fall Field Day is what makes every student excited to participate. Field Day marked a new year of Community High forum fun.
