Blue Key Head Malcolm Tolbert ’26 championed West Quad South, who would latr be crowned as Cluster Olympic Victors.
Following a lull in the thunderstorm Saturday night, students made a break for Phelps Stadium in what would become the second annual Cluster Olympics. Cheering and applauding their teams, pupils watched their Clusters go head to head in various games.
The goal of Cluster Olympics is to encourage community building among new and returning students through friendly competition. Aya Murata, Assistant Dean of Students, planned this year’s Cluster Olympics alongside returning student coordinator Tasha Bohorad ’26.
“Each year we are a new community with over 300 new students. It’s about setting time aside for returning students to foster relationships with adults [and] with the cluster [through] community dinners, [and] to build cluster and community pride. Coming together into the stadium to have some good fun and competition and really just saying ‘we’re starting a new school year hand in hand, together,’ let’s [get going],” said Murata.
This year’s cluster suppers were held inside, a decision made preceding the event due to a forecast of thunderstorms. Although the games were able to take place outside, there was a backup plan in case the thunder forecast continued.
“This year we had more forewarning that there was going to be a severe thunderstorm so there was lots of behind the scenes communication. Obviously student safety comes first…[As a backup plan] we had hired GlowSports in Snyder. We were going to try having some cluster based dodgeball in the gym and then a movie and karaoke in Susie’s. So yeah we had some ideas, it wouldn’t have replicated the events but it would have still provided some spaces for kids to have fun together,” said Murata.
Although some events were carried out in Pan and Borden, most of the Cluster Olympics were able to take place outside. Some of the games included a relay race, paper airplanes, tug of war, capture the flag, hula hooping and handstands. Kevin Zheng ’26, co-president of Abbot Cluster, talked about his experience and future Cluster Olympic hopes.
“I made sure there was a great spirit from Abbot and we did quite well as we came second. We were just trying to bring a good energy and get the best players for the games… I’d like to see more activities where everyone can come and participate like capture the flag, a longer relay race, or rock paper scissors, we didn’t get to do that one. I’d like to see if I can organize the Winter Cluster Olympics with snow challenges. You know snowball fights. I had [about] 40 kids come up to me asking to play flag football in the winter.”
The final game of the Cluster Olympics, capture the flag, was swarmed with people trying to play. Kevin Zheng ’26 reflected on the impracticality of such a large game of capture the flag and the difficulties of having mass participation.
“It was a bit iffy when it started to rain but I think most people wanted to play capture the flag at the end. I don’t think it was a good idea for 50 people to be rushing the field at once. I feel like there should have been twenty people max and 5 rounds for each cluster. I feel like it could have been a bit smoother. With 50 people it’s a bit hard to get through,” said Zheng.
In order to participate in the event, students would sign up in advance, with student leaders assisting in getting people to participate and cheer on their teams. As a Blue Key Head, Sarah Bae ’26 played an important role in the success of the event.
“The cluster olympics were mainly headed by the co-presidents, but two blue key heads were assigned to each cluster. Me and Maty Bah [’26] were the Blue Key Heads for Abbot. Our goal was to get people to be excited despite the weather and other challenges that day…I think [the event] totally fostered community. Once we got people down for tug of war and the larger games everyone was able to talk to each other, connect, and come together for Abbot,” said Bae.
“My favorite activity was the hula hooping even though I wasn’t part of it. Abbot won hula hooping this year. An upper named Jack Gonzalez did great, he got the crowd very hyped and biting their nails when he went down and back up. I thought that was really impressive.”
Sebastian Serizawa ’28 is a new Lower in Pine Knoll who competed in wheelbarrow racing. He found the event to be enjoyable, however, he also noted the need for more student participation.
“[It] was probably the first time since I got here that I was able to cheer and scream along with my friends in an event. Honestly, it was a really fun opportunity. I liked watching the relay race. While I didn’t participate in it, it was really thrilling to watch. It was a really fun experience, but maybe we could have more required participation from some people in the crowd. [For] some activities people were less excited to join. It definitely would have been cool for more people to be out there to represent their cluster,” said Serizawa.
