Dance to Dodgeball

The all-new Winter Olympics at Jefferson Academy begin as dodgeballs fly through the air and skates glide on the ice.

With activities ranging from volleyball to trivia, what would usually be a Winter Formal is now transformed into an exciting event to remember. While some students will miss the cozy Winter dance, others look forward to this new change.

“I really liked Winter Formal, so I'm sad to see it gone, but realistically we didn’t get a ton of participation at the dance,” mentioned senior Katie Proctor, “ideally more people will be able to participate in this and have fun.”

The outlook for the Winter Olympics is hopeful, with a sign up sheet full of teams ready to compete. Most students find that saying goodbye to the Winter Formal is difficult. With that being said, the new opportunities the Winter Olympics bring are full of excitement as students strategize on how to prepare their teams for success.

“Since no one was really getting enough tickets to go to the Winter dance, I think that this is a good replacement for what we could work with,” shared freshman Cody Schaffer. “[My goal is] to win. I’m not really looking forward to one event in particular, but I’m excited for all of them and I think it will be a great time.”

While some students are thrilled to see how all aspects of the Winter Olympics play out, others are focused more on one event with hopes of excelling.

“I think the whole reason we’re doing this is for volleyball,” junior Tate Stadler said. “I am pretty excited. It seems like a lot of [the activities] are fun.”

Many students enthusiastically anticipated the volleyball tournament. Teams joined together in friendly competition to play the games.

“I was, like many, looking forward most probably to the volleyball tournament. There is something about the volleyball tournaments at our school that just has such an exciting and friendly, competitive air,” senior Finley Bullis recalled. “During volleyball, all of the teams except one showed pretty significant numbers. Everyone was pretty excited to play and the gym was honestly pretty electric. It was a fantastic time.”

With volleyball being a popular crowd favorite, many students gathered both to watch and participate in the games. However, some of the less attended activities had their fair share of fun.

“I have participated and helped plan all activities so far: Dodgeball, Volleyball, and the non-competitive Ice-Skating. I have enjoyed seeing faces that we don’t usually see at school events and playing these competitive games,” continued Bullis. “During dodgeball, none of the teams sent a particularly large amount of people, so we had to combine teams. Even though my team ultimately performed poorly, I had a wildly fun time going back to my PE roots and dodging (and absolutely hurling) some balls.”

Some students emphasize the importance of variation among the events. Whereas with Winter Formal there was only one main activity, now there are many.

“I really do like [the JA Winter Olympics]. It gives a lot of people a chance to play different sports and different activities that they usually wouldn't be able to do, especially with the Clash Royale tournaments, and spike ball,” junior Vinam Hoang commented. “There's really a lot of things you don't see like in regular school events. I think it's nice to have different opportunities.”

Many students that played a part in the Winter Olympics hope to see its return in the future. With careful planning, it may be here to stay. 

“I think there's a lot of learning from this year,” Hoang reflected, “I think Stucco can learn how to do a lot of different things differently and  keep on improving it. I would love to see this for my senior year.”

Old endings make way for new beginnings, as students await the JA Winter Olympics for potential years to come. Saying goodbye to the Winter Formal is bittersweet. However, it paved the way for new possibilities to take place, and for new adventures to be had.

“My goal is that people have fun and people are motivated to participate and be on a team. I would love for it to become an annual thing if it’s successful this year,” Proctor declared, “I think there’s a lot of potential with it.”