Field Day

As I walked out of school today to head to the soccer game and the tennis match (great contests, by the way! Let's hear it for the MS Girls Soccer Team, who tied DA 1-1 and always seem to have a great time doing what they do!) I overheard one of our juniors talking across the parking lot.

"Oh, yeah! I LOVE Field Day! It's one of my favorite days of the year."

Oh yeah!

Field Day brings our oldest and our youngest students together. The younguns get to look up to their heroes, talk with them, and throw water balloons at them. The oldies get to taste the enormous potential energy that is inherent in a class of eight year olds. This is one of the values we get at a K-12 school. High Schools can't do this by themselves.

It takes a boatload of work to put this on. Kudos to Lori Easterlin, who for six (is that right? or is it five?) years has organized the Upper School to do this. By now she's got a plan that works. And by now she has student leaders like Nikki Behnke, who do a lot of the work. It's a gift that the US gives to the entire school. Thank you.

Still, for all the work, it always amazes me what delight our youngest students take in the simplest things. Most of them involve getting themselves and other students wet. That, and a good amount of dizziness. Add in a little healthy competition and team shirts (each grade wears its own distinctive color), hope for splendid weather (like today!), and Voila! Field Day. One of our favorite days of the year.

I wasn't out there as much as I would have liked. Last year I got a good soaking of my own, and I sort of missed that this year. But the upside of being there less was that when I stepped outside to check things out, it hit me fresh and new. I wish every Trinity parent could have witnessed the amazing joie de vivre, the beautiful chaos, the shouts of glee, the teaming energy that was flowing, jumping, throwing, bouncing, running, laughing, diving, and darting all over the South Building Lawn.

One of our favorite days of the year.