By: Kayla Herssein (10th Grade)
The week before Pesach break, high school students enjoyed the long awaited Color War 2021. Divided by grade, teams battled it out in a variety of games, sports, and contests as part of the competition. In the end, the senior class emerged as the clear winners.
This year’s theme was the Disney characters. The freshmen, led by Sophia Lurie and Adam Michael, represented the character Little Red Riding Hood. The sophomore class, led by Owen Ebner and Lea Berkowitz, was Goldilocks. Shiraz Bachar and David Slomianski were the captains from the junior class as Pinnochio. The seniors represented Peter Pan, headed by Ella Zaret and Abraham Hirsch.
Color War broke during a Zoom assembly following a vague email from Dr. Jones about raccoons roaming the elevator shafts. The assembly concluded with a video on how to combat raccoons and Donna being "kidnapped" by a raccoon.
"I thought it (the breakout) was really cute," said Tziyona Gheblikian (12th Grade). "It has been more extravagant in the past years, but I still thought this was a great segue to Color War."
To kickoff Color War, the High School students went across the street to take part in the Minute-To-Win-It activity shortly after breakout. Many enjoyed watching their classmates struggle with the challenges.
"I really enjoyed watching my friends partake in minute to win it," said Ben Reinberg (12th). "It was really funny.”
The next day, Color War festivities shifted over to the Miami Beach JCC, which was rented out in order for the students to have the chance to participate in sports. Games included basketball, volleyball, and football.
“It was amazing playing sports with my class and the whole school after not being allowed for so long,” said Akiva Itzkowitz (11th).
The last day of Color War consisted of a school-wide relay race as well as the Final Ceremony. During this assembly, each grade showcased their team’s posters, videos, and skits. Many focus on just the artistic points of Color War that are presented during the Final Ceremony.
"I personally like to paint a lot, and Color War offers a lot of artistic activities,” said Ariela Sragowicz (10th).
As this was the last major school-wide event that the seniors would be participating in, the event was quite emotional for them.
“Because it was my last Color War, it was very sentimental for me to win especially since we won so many times, and also just to go through a lot of the games again that we’ve done for so many year," said Deborah Winer (12th). "It was very fun and exciting for me and it was a good closure of the chapter."
This year’s event planning consisted of various obstacles due to COVID-19. However, the student council and the administration put in their best efforts to be sure that a Corona-safe Color War took place despite these challenges.
“The hard part was obviously to keep everybody six feet apart. We said that all the big events would be on Zoom so that way every class that had a floor we would have to make sure that they had a screen to log into Zoom. Besides that, what started as a problem became a blessing in the end. We couldn’t use the gym so we ended up using the JCC that I think gave us way more space and it was much safer,” said Activities Director Oshrat Twito.
Even with the pandemic setbacks, Color War was thoroughly appreciated by the students. The event offered hope after what has been a turbulent school year.
"Color War was definitely the breath of fresh air everyone needed," said Esther Nahon (12th). "I enjoyed the laid-back spirit and just being able to spend time with my friends."
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