Last Saturday, MSMS students had the opportunity to take a two hour break from studying and enjoy MSMS’s annual Field Day.

This year’s Field Day introduced a medley of both outdoor and indoor activities so that even those who did not want to subject themselves to the harsh sun could participate.

At Kincannon field, an inflatable water slide and jousting ring were set up where students challenged each other to slide races and jousting matches.

As more people arrived, some students began a game of ultimate frisbee and others formed a ring where they passed a soccer ball back and forth.

Indoors, in the new Hooper Study Lounge, seniors Aidan Dunkelberg and Yousef Abu-Salah conducted the Poetry and Song event in the student lounge. Participants read aloud some of their own and others’ poetry and listened to or played on musical instruments. Across the hall, students filled a room with chatter by relaxing and filling in geometric adult coloring pages.

Some students, such as senior Kayci Kimmons, were disappointed that last year’s mud volleyball was not available this year. However, they soon began to enjoy the other activities offered.

“I previously decided to go ‘cause I heard that there was going to be mud volleyball there,” Kimmons said, “but I was very disappointed to learn that we weren’t playing because it was too muddy. But I went because I really wanted to do the waterslide and the jousting ring again, and it was really fun.”

Perhaps the most popular activity offered were the inflatables. Throughout the two hours, they were in constant use, and a favorite of both Kimmons and junior Lane Hughes.

“I went to three of the events,” Huges explained. “I went to the Smash Bros tournament, I went to the inflatable stuff they had outside, and then I went and played ultimate frisbee, and I gotta say, the inflatable stuff was probably the coolest.”

Besides offering a fun relief from schoolwork, the Field Day was also a chance for students, especially the juniors, to meet their new classmates.

Kimmons said she saw new people as people joined the soccer-passing circle. Hughes, pointing out his friends while he spoke, said, “Personally, it was just fun seeing everybody being in a group setting and going and doing all this stuff together. Whenever I go and do those things by myself, it’ll be, like, me and one other person for however many hours, and then [at Field Day], it was like me and him and me and her and me and him, and him and her.”

Many students believe that Field Day did its job of providing the bonding and fun necessary for the successful beginning of a busy school year.