After a solemn Mincha in the Beit Midrash in observance of Yom HaZikaron, a raucous, spirited Color War broke out on April 25. Usually just the winner is announced, but for the first time in Shalhevet history, the score of Color War was announced too.
Competing in different sports and races as well as skits, trivia and banner designs, White ended up winning with 6,165 points, while Blue earned 6,120.
“I wanted the closing ceremony to be as suspenseful as possible,” said SAC co-chair Yonah Nimmer, one of the day’s planners. “My goal was to have everyone on the edge of their seats dying to hear the winner.”
Students liked the change.
“Having the color war score mentioned made me realize that even though my team lost the actual color war, we won some individual things which made me feel really good,” said junior and Blue Team member Emilie Benyowitz.
In honor of Yom Haatzmaut the next day, the entire high school was split between the colors Blue for Yerushalayim and White for Tel Aviv – a change from past years, when team colors were blue and red.
Yonah and SAC co-chair Raquel Garshofsky, along with Student Activities advisors Raizie Weissman and Ruthie Skaist, had picked Nathan Rossi and Rachel Lester as the captains of the Blue Team along with junior Leora Nimmer, and seniors Ari Feuer and Deanna Grunfeld as the captains of the White Team, along with junior Arianna Feder.
After breakout, the teams met separately during seventh period to learn team cheers.
On Thursday, students came to davening dressed in white or blue, and after breakfast, the White Team proceeded to the Media Center while the Blue Team went to the Beit Midrash to divide up for the various competitions.
Activities included a tug-of-war between the White and Blue Teams – and also between Head of Judaic Studies Rabbi Leubitz and Acting General Studies Principal Roy Danovich – which took place on the Sport Court, and a watermelon over-under-toss, with one person from each team racing to finish an entire watermelon.
Both teams took a quick lunch break in order to let the Sport Court dry from an early morning drizzle. After lunch, they competed in a massive dodgeball game as well as boys basketball and soccer and girls volleyball and soccer. Meanwhile, smaller groups competed in Fear-Factor in the Media Center and Trivia — with questions by Mr. Buckley, Dr. Yoss, Mr. Feld and Mrs. Keene — in Room 34.
Junior Natalie Kessler of the White Team said her favorite part of the day was Fear Factor.
“It was fun to compete against the other team and eat chocolate out of a diaper,” said Natalie.
To conclude the day, students proceeded to the Beit Midrash for Mincha, followed by amusing skits, more cheers, competitive dvar Torahs, a teacher impersonation contest and presentations of team art murals representing Israeli cities.
Even though the students were divided between Blue and White, some thought the day had brought the school together. Freshman Clare Hartman said that her favorite part of Color War was “the unity we all had together as a school even though we were split in two teams.”
But this year’s Color War may be remembered most for its breakout, which involved rumors being spread about random drug testing starting at school. Several days of confusion and apprehension were resolved when SAC revealed that it had just been a prank to take people’s minds off the possibility that Color War would coincide with Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
