MARY DANIELS
The sophomores took home an unexpected win at 2017’s Fall Fest. Conversations with a few Fall Fest participants and chair, Mary Wagner, illustrate how arduous the road to Fall Fest was for the underclassmen.
Imani Brown revealed that gathering participation was the junior class’s biggest Fall Fest challenge “because fall fest is something you want everyone to participate in and everyone to enjoy as much as you do.” Zykeria Carlton of the first-year class echoed that sentiment as she struggled to garner participation from the first-year class.
Each class exhibited strengths that stood out to the judges. When asked about what stood out about the skits, Mary Wagner acknowledged the first-years’ use of the song “Cheetah Sisters” which her class did their first-year as well, the sophomores’ impressive choreography, the juniors’ creative idea to use a non-western myth, and the seniors’ emotionality and their fantastic singers.
The group dynamic varied from class to class. Chardell Hodges accounted the group dynamic of the sophomores as being “interesting” due to the presence of “really strong personalities, really artsy personalities, and then people who were more quiet”, requiring more time to get together and work as a team. In the end, they were able to work together and put on a performance that Carlton and Wagner agreed made them deserving of their win.
The first-years struggled a bit with their group dynamic at first. Carlton stated that “most people were positive, so the bad eggs didn’t really taint the group’s morale.” One thing the first-years could unanimously agree on was their decision to pay tribute to Audrey Zuchowski, an incoming first-year who passed away earlier this year. The tribute brought the entire auditorium to their feet and many to tears.
Proceeding Fall Fest were rumors of animosity between the senior class and the sophomore class. There was said to be anger from the seniors about the sophomore’s win, but that seems to be fizzling down as everyone remembers the Salem siblinghood that bonds us all together. When asked how much she would miss the seniors next year, Hodges said, “I don’t want to think about it too much. I’m going to cry.”
Hodges continues, “they are just amazing people and they’ve all really been inspirational and super sweet, even if you’re not their little. I’m really going to miss them.” It is clear that the sophomores are in complete adoration of their big class.
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