Probably the most asked question at Exeter last Saturday was: Is Field Day taking place? After every student had received a “Severe Weather Warning” in the morning, the future of this year’s Field Day seemed uncertain. Shortly before the scheduled beginning, the weather suddenly improved and the faculty informed the students that the tradition would go on this year as well.
Subsequently all dorms gathered excitedly and marched in large groups towards the Academy Lawn. All dorms, distinguishable by their colored personalized T-Shirts, cheered and laughed when the other teams arrived.
The dorms had worked up to the competition. Together they had been styling their shirts for a week. The preparation itself was already a collaborative effort, which was a “great opportunity to bond with my dorm mates,” said Jolie Bercow from New York. Many dorms presented original designs, for instance the winners of the girls competition, Dunbar. Their creative jersey shows a weight-lifting bar and the word dun and bar, symbolizing them raising the bar over their opponents and their strength.
In should be kept in mind that students from across the world came together in Exeter during this friendly competition. They competed in three races: the potato sack race, the izzy-dizzy relay race and the three-legged race. Cultures varied, and some students weren’t used to such odd races. Despite the diversity on campus, many students had similar opinions about Field Day. “I think it’s cool,” said Simbarashe Damitoni, a summer student from Ghana. “I like it, the games are so interesting because you have to do a lot of things.”
The crowd enjoyed the three-legged race the most. During this event, two people from a dorm had to team up and connect two legs with a rubber band. Many students tripped, while others developed certain techniques and were therefore able to run unimpededly. “Winning the three legged race,” said Jeff Rivard from Peabody, “was the best moment of Field Day for me”. Other students were simply amused by tripping and falling, even though “it was still muddy from all the rain,” said Zylene Alainz, a student from Chicago.
Many of the students also fell during the potato sack race because of the wet grass. A student from Cilley Hall, Aryanna Rosario, fell and twisted her ankle during the event. She is now walking with crutches; further information was not disclosed.
Many students also came from different competitive backgrounds. Heaven Rawlings, a student from New York, was very confident in her skills. “I’m excited to tear the competition apart with my skills,” she said while laughing.
“I feel like it’s a time for our competitive side to come out, but in a friendly way,” said Aryana Rhodes, a student from Chicago.
Eissa Attar, a student from Saudi Arabia, was glad that there are so many students and such a diversity on campus, “It’s a great opportunity for us to meet new people from other dorms,” Eissa said. There are over 700 students in this year’s Exeter Summer program, Access Exeter and Upper School, making it easy to make plenty of friends, but also making it hard to meet everyone.
“The atmosphere was very competitive, but friendly,” said Cambron Wade, who lives in London. In fact, all students cheered and laughed at each other before, during and after the races. This pleasant atmosphere was partially generated by the “motivating music,” said Annika Li from Dunbar.
All in all, Field Day was full of laugher and smiles from students, teachers, and dorm counselors. Despite the rain, the sun rose and shined on Field Day, making it a memorable day for Exeter Summer 2017.