Field Day is one of the many exciting activities that Groves has to offer during the year. It starts off the fun for homecoming, which is important to many students. Every single year, or what seemed to be every single year, the seniors automatically won the bucket. Most students come into Field Day already assuming the seniors will win, and are just happy to experience the excitement and school spirit the day invites. This year, as always, everyone basically knew the seniors were going to win— but when the results were announced, everything changed. For the first time in years, the juniors had won the bucket. It felt groundbreaking because nobody ever saw it coming, and personally, as a junior, I was more than shocked. 

When it was initially announced that the juniors had won, the entire class had a flow of emotions come at them. 

“When the juniors won the bucket, I was shocked. I had no idea that we were even in the running to have a chance at winning this year, based on watching the games. Once I heard that the seniors didn’t win, I thought the sophomores would, but when they announced the Juniors, I was surprised but so excited.” Mallory Gerken, a junior, said. 

No one ever saw this coming, and every junior could probably agree that they had the same feelings and emotions about the experience all around. Others are confused about how the juniors won the bucket as well. 

“I did not think the juniors were going to win because we lost a lot of the activities during spirit week. We lost most of the dress-up days and other activities in Field Day.” Leksie Borovich, another junior, said.

Overall, this year, Field Day created many exciting emotions for the juniors, and kicked off their homecoming weekend with much enjoyment. 

On the other hand, after the seniors had won many times in the past, this year’s seniors pretty much assumed they would too. Some were filled with many emotions themselves, but the emotions didn’t feel as great as most of the juniors’. 

“The juniors winning the bucket made me feel sad because almost every other senior group got their chance, but we didn’t. But, since it is just a bucket, I got over it pretty quickly.”  Alyson Rahl, a senior, said.

Even though it made seniors feel sad, it didn’t affect them too much, knowing that their performance wasn’t too great. 

“My initial reaction to hearing the juniors won was that at first I was a little shocked, but we didn’t do that well on field day, so I kind of saw it coming. I think that the sophomores and freshmen did way better during the games, and probably should have won instead, especially the sophomores,” said Rahl.

In the end, the juniors winning came as a shock, especially since as a junior, I didn’t see much hope for us winning, as the other grades seemed to do much better in all of their activities. It wasn’t just the juniors who thought that either— many of the seniors also agreed.

Though the junior’s victory came as a shock, some may agree with the fact that the seniors’ field day performance wasn’t what they expected. They didn’t place very well in the games, and their other activities didn’t place as high as they typically do, either. Even though this is the case, the Juniors’ win also came as a shock, seeing many agree that the Sophomores’ performance was the best overall, or even the freshmen’s. 

In conclusion, this shows that maybe after all these years, the Seniors shouldn’t expect to win just because it’s their final field day. 

“Although a lot of the student body believes that Field Day is rigged, I think the juniors winning this year really proved to everyone that it’s only based on the points scored during Field Day, not just due to seniority,” Gerken said. 

In future field days, people should not expect the seniors to win every time, and there could be a chance that it is any of the other grades. At Groves, field day isn’t just a fun activity we get to do every year, it’s more than that. It takes a lot of power, competitiveness and determination to be successful in Field Day. In the future years, no one should ever expect to win, because every grade has the chance.