Foxcroft Academy 2013 Winter Carnival in review

By Sam Keane
Foxcroft Academy junior

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Winter Carnival 2013 was certainly a memorable one, with extreme effort exhibited by all classes in every event. Winter Carnival differs from Homecoming in that instead of generating school spirit and fervor for the Ponies, it is simply a time for students to have fun and release stress in the ever-so-long months of winter. Yet the Ponies, living up to their name, always bring a competitive aspect to the table. The unique aspect of this year’s winter carnival was that it was condensed to one day (apart from the basketball tournament that was held on the Wednesday night). This schedule, coined by Chris Shorey last year, has proved to be the best for FA and will continue to be used in future years.

    From the beginning of the week, FA students and faculty were in Winter Carnival spirit, with basketball trash talking running rampant and daily dress up days generating huge participation. When Wednesday night came along, the FA gym found itself full of vibrant and enthusiastic Pony basketball players. The competition was tough; the senior boys with star players such as Ryan Rebar, Louie Lafache and Kaleb Smith, the juniors with giant Kolby Kendall, and the freshmen with rising star Hunter Smith. The juniors came out on top, winning on both the girls and boys side but falling to the teachers. The seniors finished second, narrowly defeating the freshmen, who finished third. The sophomores finished last but were the only team to defeat the powerful faculty group (comprising dead-eye Mr. Chevalier, power forward Mr. Weber and point guard Mr. White, among others). The basketball game set the tone for the week, with the exact same winning line up in the overall winter carnival results as there was in basketball.
    Starting off a cold Friday morning was the tug of war competition, which the juniors were heavily favored in (having won the previous few years). The juniors did not disappoint, winning every match except one against students from all of the other classes combined. The sophomores, with the help of animals Peter Boyer and Ty Cobb, finished in second, the freshmen took third, and the seniors, surprisingly, finished in last.
    Next was the dodgeball competition, with the seniors donning new “dirt dog” T-shirts and Ms. Philpot diligently counting teams. The sophomores handily finished first, winning on both the girls and boys side. The juniors finished tied with the seniors in second and the freshmen finished last. However, no one was able to defeat the faculty team (due to Mr. Almasi and his cannon of an arm).
    After that was the quiz bowl competition, where the intellectuals of FA competed in a jeopardy style game with Mr. Pratt imitating Alex Trebek. The seniors, with all of their knowledge, finished in first place, narrowly edging out the upstart freshmen. Next were the sophomores, and then finally the juniors (who proved to lack basic knowledge).
    Following the quiz bowl was the volleyball competition, which was dominated by the seniors, who lived up to their “dirt dog” name. The boys finished undefeated while the girls finished in second. The juniors ended in second place, freshmen in third and sophomores in last. The senior team was even able to defeat the faculty team, which contained Tim Smith the serving king.
    Next was the minute-to-win-it contest. This was a new event this year developed by the student council and modeled after the popular game show. There were various odd activities such as spooning pudding into another person’s mouth blindfolded and bouncing a penny into a cup. The juniors once again came out on top, winning all but one of the eccentric competitions. Next were the sophomores, seniors and finally the freshmen.
    The last event of the day was the class skit competition, which proved to be very odd. The sophomores set forth a skit that contained simply sitting in a chair and staring, while the seniors were possibly too active on the stage. The freshmen ended surprisingly in first (incorporating Mr. Willette in the mix), the seniors finished in second with a rendition of the Harlem Shake, the juniors in third and the sophomores in fourth. As for the cumulative dress up days, the juniors came out on top, trailed closely by the sophomores, seniors, then freshmen.
    Overall, the juniors accumulated the most wins, thus gaining valuable Pony points and bragging rights. The seniors finished in second (a fair standing to go out on). The freshmen, once again, did not finish in last, taking the third-place title while the sophomores finished disappointingly in fourth place. Overall, however, Winter Carnival was once again a major success. Students, faculty, and administrators alike had large amounts of fun, which is, in the end, the goal of this popular event. We learned many things from this year’s carnival, such as how the sophomores play really rough basketball and how Cameron Fadley can do a nice “Harlem Shake,” but most of all we learned that competition brings the Pony herd even closer together, and this is an accomplishment in itself.