On April 11, St. Charles East hosted its annual spring assembly, which was also Assistant Principal for Student Life, Lisa Dandre’s last assembly here at East. Dandre was looking to try something new and go out with a bang in her last months at the school. Along with the help of the boys’ and girls’ track and field teams, Dandre organized for a new game to be introduced: air mattress racing.
The spring assembly was a trial run for a new small games competition, which means that inevitably, air mattress racing will be added to the fun of homecoming week. The track and field team was chosen to compete in this event for the first time because they are known for their speed. Each team was made up of three girls and three boys from each class, handpicked by the coaches. However, both the sophomores and the juniors were missing people from their teams, and the juniors were forced to pick two people from the crowd to compete: senior Lauren Slater and junior Ari Barone.
On the day of the assembly, all four teams were nervous with anticipation, with their hands on the wall and waiting for the air horn to signal the start. Once the race started, all four teams took off running at full speed, the sophomores and freshmen with an early lead. As the race progressed, the sophomores began to pull away, with the freshmen falling behind on the way back. The sophomore and senior teams were the first two to finish, allowing them to advance to the final round and race against their coaches and teachers.
With the gym full of tension and excitement, the air horn sounded, and the sophomores began to pull away again, eventually finishing in first and winning the new small game for their class. The sophomore team included Dean Neokratis, Pierce Bittman, Ruby Garcia, Luca Ketter and Nicole Mayer. After their win, Ruby Garcia said that she felt “amazing [because] we won both rounds by a lot.”
Overall, the addition of air mattress racing to the spring assembly brought a new, fun and competitive spirit to the spring assembly. Dandre and the Saints Track and Field team introduced next year’s small games with a bang.
