April 17th, 2024 marked the second ever Freshman Field day at Piscataway High School! This event gave the class of 2027 a break from their regular classes and allowed them to have a little fun and enjoy the weather.
Starting as early as 7:15am, freshman seminar mentors and advisors started to set up the different games with their corresponding equipment on the high school’s turf field. Before this event, mentors were given the games to explain to our class and [they were also] given a map of where all the games would be on the field” PHS senior and freshman mentor Laurel Amankwah told me. While this event might’ve seemed like a one day thing, in reality it was planned weeks in advance.
A year prior, mentors and teachers held the first ever freshman field day, so this year there were some minor tweaks to ensure the smoothness of the day. Laurel told me that one of the changes she enjoyed was “[the split up lunches]. It was more organized and wasn’t as chaotic, I know the freshmen were able to enjoy their meal in peace.”Also new this year, Freshman Seminar classes were able to practice the games as a team to ensure they were prepared for the big day.
Each Freshman Seminar class came up with their own team name and were tasked with making a class poster. They were hung up on the fence that surrounds the stadium, presenting how creative the class of 2027 really is! Many classes decided to make team shirts, whether they be the same color or tie-dyed. Laurel says that her class enjoyed field day, and that “making their shirts and posters definitely unified them and they were able to show pride as a class together.”
While this was the second time this event was held, there are always ways to improve. Laurel recommends, “newer games that the freshman haven’t seen or played before, maybe to try and switch it up. Maybe start eliminating teams to make it more competitive, so by the end of it there are only two teams left!”
The cloudy and windy weather might’ve been a little tough to push through, but the enthusiastic mentors and teachers encouraged the freshman to have fun! Freshman Field day is an awesome reminder that there is nothing wrong with some friendly competition and taking a break once in a while is necessary.
