Friday, September 2 Fossil swapped its opening assembly for a school wide challenge during Advisory. This new event was a test run that student council decided to hold based on student feedback. According to Amanda Jones, the advisor for student council, “As we were going through student council interviews, the thing that was coming up again and again from people that applied to student council and general feedback throughout the building, we asked them what the number one issue at Fossil Ridge was and they said class segregation.”  Student council wanted to create a fun day that would really give students a chance to meet people from other grades on a more personal level. Some feel that the lack of unity stems from the freshman booing that took place last year and even some general issues before that. According to Jones, student council wants positivity to come out of it. “If people say that was fun for us that is meaningful.”

This new advisory activity included 12 different challenges. Teams participating in each challenge were made up of one senior, one junior, one sophomore, and one freshman class. This gave students a new place to meet new people. The challenges included stick the landing, where team members had to toss a water bottle in the air and see if they could get it to land right side up. There was also the classic wheelbarrow race with a fun twist as costumes were added, hangnail which was a challenge of precision teams had to see how many nails they could hang from the nailhead on a string without damaging the nail or string. For the students that are more comfortable with athletic competition there was also the eight legged race; four people were tied together at the ankles and must compete in races and relays. The beach ball relay was another one for the athletes out there;two or more teammates had to race while holding a beachball between the two people’s hips.

Another timeless game that required more creativity was pictionary. Then there was the cotton ball challenge. Using vaseline, teams had to stick cotton balls to their noses and move them from point A to point B. Then there was also the floating boat challenge in which students had to construct paper boats and see how long they could float for. As is common in many team building exercises there was also the marshmallow/toothpick towers which were a sight to behold. Teams had to see how high their towers could reach; the goal was height, not stability.

Student council also threw teams back to their elementary school days as they competed to see how many balloons they could keep in the air for how long. Mrs. Kochis’s personal favorite challenge was the mega bubble challenge in which teams had to see how many giant bubbles they could blow through hula hoops. Last but not least was the lava crossing challenge, which was no easy feat on the slippery floors of the east and west locker bays. Teams were given 3 pieces of paper and had to transport as many spoons as they could to the other side. This challenge took the longest.

To wrap up, students rejoined their own advisories and spread out across the gym. They then had to transfer as many ping pong balls as they could from one end to the other and the whole event was timed.

According to senior Grace Philop, “The upperclassmen and the underclassmen are always so divided every year. This is going to help at least a little on the softball team and maybe with other teams too because more people are going to have to learn to work together. It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior or a freshman you have to work together to get the job done.” The advisory challenge was a new concept for Fossil and in the future student council hopes to modify it so that there can be an advisory challenge followed by an opening assembly. The Advisory challenge was an overall success and everyone is waiting to see how it will shape this year.