Playing carnival games and eating sweet treats, Palo Alto High School students took the opportunity to close the year on a high note during Friday’s extended lunch on the Quad as part of the Associated Student Body’s Field Day, one of many events designed to mark the end of the school year and celebrate the graduating seniors.

Members of ASB handed out a variety of free food, including “It’s It” ice cream sandwiches, popsicles, and bags of popcorn, as well as various fair-themed games with small prizes for the victors, enticing students from all grades to the event, including freshman Cara Augustine, who participated in dart-throwing. 

“I came for the ice cream and food, but the games are fun too,” Augustine said.

ASB and Paly administration have organized similar events in the past, albeit under different names, such as Paly Play Day, according to sophomore Raz Mazor-Hoofien, ASB’s current Spirit Commissioner. Mazor-Hoofien added that ASB took ideas and plans from past events and incorporated them into Field Day.

“This [Field Day] last year was called ‘Paly Play’ and was organized mostly by admin[istration], but now ASB is doing it,” Mazor-Hoofien said. “During Spring Spirit Week, I had the idea of doing a carnival style game, but we couldn’t do it then, so I thought ‘hey, can we just do that now?’ So I set it up and had each class run at least one booth.”

All sorts of games were available, from bucket pong to ring toss and Spikeball, a Paly favorite. Water balloons exploded at students’ feet as they watched the center of the action, a Slip ‘N Slide created by a long sheet of plastic slick with soapy water from a hose, with a kiddie pool at one end.

The Writer’s Craft class, taught by English teacher Lucy Filppu, set up a “Poem in Your Pocket” table at the corner of the Quad, staffed by senior Johannah Seah.

“’Poem in Your Pocket’ is a day we celebrate language and its ability to bring all people together, including Paly kids on the Quad,” Filppu said. 

For many students, this was their first sampling of a Field Day, including senior Carrie Lohse. 

“I’m really looking forward to getting a churro,” Lohse said. “Right now, I have an ice cream sandwich, and it’s really good. I’ve never experienced a Field Day before.”

According to senior Phela Durosinmi, Field Day was an enjoyable way to mark the end of the school year for the graduating senior class.

“It’s really nice, because I think for a lot of people, the end of the year sort of ends at different places — some people are done before AP tests, some people have finals after AP tests, and this is a nice sort of explicit point at which everyone is done,” Durosinmi said. “I’m really looking forward to the Grad Party after graduation, as well as graduation itself.”

All photos by Daniel Garepis-Holland.