Saint Paul’s celebrated the end of Homecoming week with Field Day and a pep rally in order to raise school spirit, bring the Saint Paul’s and Saint Scholastica Academy school communities together, and prepare for the Homecoming football game and dances.

The pep rally showcased intramural sports and games such as grade vs. grade basketball, Uniform Relay, and the senior vs. teacher volleyball match, with the Saint Paul’s Marching Wolves playing in between to get the students hyped up.

The Field Day activities began with the hour and fifteen minute lunch period during which students had the opportunity to participate in many games such as corn hole, an obstacle course, Spikeball, tug-of-war, and basketball. Moreover, to add to the celebration, sno-balls and ice cream were sold as a treat for the students.

Saint Paul’s senior Steven Meyers expressed his love for this traditional day of activity. “Field Day never fails to deliver on a fun day of competitions between friends, and having this period got me hyped and ready to beat the teachers in the volleyball match.”

During the field day lunch, the grade-level basketball matches were played. The first game was the pre-freshmen vs. the freshmen, and the freshmen won. Following that was the sophomores vs. the juniors, with the sophomores upsetting the juniors and earning their seat in the finals. After that, the freshmen played against and lost to the seniors.

Immediately following the fun lunch, the student body filed into the Gene Bennett Sports Complex for the final basketball match: the sophomores vs. the seniors.

Saint Paul’s senior Cooper Winchester and CORE student Matthew Seal commentated on this match and the following volleyball game.

The students seriously showed up in this final match: cheering, screaming, and clapping, particularly when Saint Paul’s senior John Baricev crossed up a defender and slammed the ball in for a dunk.

The sophomores fought hard and put some points on the board, but, inevitably, the seniors came out on top.

Saint Paul’s senior basketball team coach Peyton Kilgore humbly praised the senior team for their hard work and performance. “The guys did what they were expected to do, and that is all I could ask for. We had serious talent on our team, especially in guys like Johnny Schembre.”

Following the basketball final, the seniors faced off against the teachers in a volleyball match. The game, played best two-out-of-three sets, started off slowly for the senior team, with them losing the first set to the teachers; however, after a quick pep talk from the coaches, Saint Paul’s seniors Jacob Strecker and Preston Olivier, the seniors came back and dominated the next two sets to win the match.

Strecker admired the team’s potential and is looking forward to further practicing in preparation for the Saint Paul’s vs. Saint Scholastica Academy volleyball game at Challenge Night:

“After watching our team overcome the adversity of losing the first set, Preston and I decided to make some adjustments to our game plan. We fought hard and got the win, but that game pails in comparison to where we will need to be in order to beat SSA. We need to work hard, getting better every day in order to ensure the outcome and win challenge night.”

During the volleyball game, the Saint Scholastica Academy student body arrived for the concluding pep rally.

Transitioning from the volleyball game, the actual pep rally began, led by MCs Saint Paul’s seniors James Hardwick and Ben Buisson.

The pep rally encompassed grade-level competitions like uniform relay in which students race to put on articles of clothing from the opposite school and hula hoop race in which a line of students must get a hula hoop to the end without breaking the chain.

Toward the end, the Saint Paul’s Marching Wolves performed hype music to get the students excited for the football game that night, and a hype video was played to showcase the strength of the team. Additionally, each grade participated in a spirit stick cheer competition to see which grade was the most ready to cheer on the Wolves, of which the seniors won.

Finally, as is tradition, the Marching Wolves punctuated the afternoon, and the entire week, with a rallying rendition of the Saint Paul’s Fight Song, sending the Wolves and Doves out on a high note.