With the first event of Willympics happening on Friday, Sept. 19, each dorm is looking to assemble their dream team to win it all and dethrone Emily McFadon Vincent House as champions of the event.
The Willympics is an annual schoolwide event at Williston where each dorm (including the day students playing as a team) competes against each other in a series of different activities. It consists of games such as shadow boxing, Spikeball, musical chairs, and a relay race that all give each dorm an opportunity to take home the trophy once the night ends.
This event has been around for more than a decade. It was created in 2014, , and it serves a part of a fun weekend during the first month of school to give students something to look forward to amidst the transition back into the school year. It’s very popular among the students, and many of the faculty members at Williston have good memories of it as well.
Ms. Caroline Channel, Williston’s the assistant dean of students, graduated in 2018 and looks back on her Willympics memories very fondly. She’s responsible for organizing Willympics.
“Planning the Willympics is the start of a positive, competitive, fun school year outside of academics” said Channel. “I think that getting together as a community, as dorms, and as day students really helps build camaraderie around campus.
Although the teams were looking to win, they encountered some issues with recruiting people for activities. Many of the students were unable to compete due to having games for their sports that weekend.
Jack Nolan, a three-year senior from Arizona, still seemed very confident in his Memorial West dorm.
“A lot of our picks had to get put on the bench, they have big games on Saturday,” said Jack. “They’ve got to put themselves first, but I’m feeling great about the guys that filled in that didn’t necessarily get the start.”
Regardless of the lineup issues, the participants were still very sure of themselves going into their events.
Colby Hurlock, a postgrad basketball player from West Hartford, Conn,. participated in spikeball and ensured that he was prepared going into it.
“I’m excited man,” said Colby. “Me and JJ [Johnson, ’27], we’ve been practicing all year for it, and we’re ready.”
Ms. Channell released the results from the first round of the Willympics on the following Tuesday. Emily McFadon Vincent is in first place with 225 points. John Wright and Memorial West are tied for second with 200 points each, and John Hazen White is in third with 150.
The next Willympics competition is gaga ball. It will be taking place on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8:00 p.m. in the Williston gymnasium.
