You may have noticed some middle schoolers decked out in blue tutus, eyeblack, and lots of temporary tattoos during the Thursday of Spirit Week. You probably had a thought along the lines of: “What are they doing? It’s red and white day. There are not any blue teams!” Well, that was because the entire seventh grade participated in the Montrose tradition of the Greek Olympics on March 9 of this year, carrying on the tradition done for many years before us. 

We were all sorted into teams of four or five, each named after a Greek city-state. This connected a gym-style activity to the grade-level History lesson about ancient Greece. Our art class was also included by making decorations for the games and signs for our teams. There were ten games, including arm wrestling, the long-distance run, and the javelin throw where students could win medals for first, second, and third places. We ran through the games in our P.E. class with Mrs. Bettinelli beforehand to give us plenty of time to practice before the big day. 

For the week before the games, all athletes were to sit with their city-state team to get to know their teammates better and build communication to help us work well together for the day of the games. During the lunch block two days before, we met up with our teams, and everyone chose the events in which they wanted to participate in, along with the two all-team events, the relay race and tug-of-war. This way, all could pick the event that they enjoyed most and were best at, and help make the team even stronger with everyone participating in their strongest event.

On the day of the games, every team came decked out in full spirit in their team’s color. Victoria Florez ‘28 told us: “My group (Syracuse) went all out… we wore tattoos, bandannas, sunglasses, and eye black. Of course, none of these were necessary, but it was still nice to be able to do all of these things and really get into the team spirit.” Mrs. Bettinelli had also supplied pinnies for all of the girls who didn’t have anything in the team’s colors. There were seven city-state teams competing that day: Sparta, Syracuse, Athens, Macedonia, Thebes, Crete, and Thrace. As previously stated, members of Syracuse came in decked out in tattoos and tutus reigned in every color. 

The games started off with Mrs. Bettinelli’s homemade torch passing through the hands of every team as the trumpets blared the original theme for the Olympics in the background. As soon as every team took a lap around the gym with the torch in hand, the events began. The events were the wheelbarrow race, discus throw (with a frisbee), arm wrestling, the long and short distance run, javelin throw (with a lacrosse stick), the shot put (with a five-pound medicine ball), the long jump, tug-of-war, and the relay race. Every event was filled with cheers from friends and teammates and big competition, but everyone always had good sportsmanship and supported all. 

Once the morning of busy activities concluded, all of the athletes came together in the M&M to commence a new Montrose tradition: the Greek Feast post games. Parents volunteered to bring in food and snacks to share for the lunch, including Greek skewers, a Greek Semolina cake, pita bread, and hummus, along with many other delicious treats. 

    After the games, we asked the girls about their opinions on the Greek Olympics. Lucy Tierney ‘28 said: “The Greek Olympics is a great experience that lets you branch out and work with other people you don’t see as much as others and gives you a natural way to find out what they like and what you have in common with one another.” 

Maddie Vacanti ‘28 agreed: “I thought the Greek Olympics were really fun because we got to compete in teams and work together. It gave us an idea of people’s strengths which they got to show during the Olympics. I got to know people on a deeper level.” Like many others, they enjoyed a big part of the Greek Olympics which was the chance to bond with our classmates in a new way. 

The competitive spirit in the air brought a fantastic bonding experience with our teammates as well as with our entire class. Kiley Wolcott ‘28, who was on team Syracuse, said: “This was a great tradition that we got to carry on to our class, and it was so much fun to compete with other kids in our class. Even if we didn’t win, it was still an outstanding thing to take part in.” These three quotes show how fun the Olympic games were because of being able to  show your team spirit as well as the competition part of the games. Overall, the seventh graders had a positive experience and were glad to have participated in such an incredible event!

      Finally, we must thank all of the faculty and staff who helped make this happen, especially Mrs. Bettinelli, Ms. Ortiz, and Mrs. Bowman as well as all of the other faculty and staff members who helped to make sure the games ran smoothly and helped give us the terrific experience we had. They made the day possible, and it was a day we will never forget! 

Thesaurus Results for END. www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/end.

By Elisabeth Smith ‘28 and Clare Olohan ‘28, Rising Middle School Editor and Staff Writer

28esmith@montroseschool.org & 28colohan@montroseschool.org