Color War: Pesach Vs. Succot

On Wednesday March 22, HANC High School all slowly trickled into the gym for a Pre-Pesach multimedia presentation during the club period. Rabbi Hulkower showed us two short videos. The first video illustrated all that happened during the Pesach story. The second video showed some quirky personified Matzahs. 

While this presentation was informative as well as enjoyable, it was what happened next that had the student body in raptures: 

Color War was on!

Students split up into two teams. The first team was the Pesach team (Red), and the second was the Sukkot team (Green). The students eagerly rushed over to grab fun dri fit shirts with the HANC Hurricane logo that corresponded with their team color. Then the fun began!

Wednesday marked the first official day of color war. Students went all out and you could see shirts, hats, necklaces, shoes, anything and everything–all color coded by red or green. There were a host of fun competitions and activities throughout the day that pitted each grade against itself. There was cake wars and kickball, football and volleyball, dodgeful and family feud, shark tank and poetry prep, team banners, you name it–a whole litany of options and all promising a whole lot of enjoyment. 

Thursday, Rosh Choden Nisan, was the second day of the war. Rabbi Fridler gave everyone a shiur on zoom and there was a chidon based on the shiur. Following this inspirational beginning to the day, there was a breakfast-making competition for contestants and judges. Other competitive activities were again split up by grade. 9th grade boys had soccer while the girls had Project Runway and Crazy Olympics. 10th grade boys had World Cup Soccer while the girls had Project Runway and Crazy Olympics. 11th grade boys had softball while the girls had Volleyball Round Robin. 12th grade boys also had softball while the girls also had Volleyball Round Robin. 

Lunch was a perfect reminder that nothing hits the spot after a long day of competitions than cold, sweet ices! Then back to it–tug of war, chess, basketball, hockey all testing students’ skills, wit, and athleticism.

Friday (we never wanted it to come!) officially concluded our 2023 Color War. After Shacharit there were Team Divrei Torah in front of the whole school. Then there were the final presentations. First was Stomp, a HANC classic, and the performances for both teams were incredible. It was still too close to call! Then the Shark Tank competition and a Slam Poetry “battle” for students led by Ms. Concannon for Green team  and Mr. Pickering for the Red team. Still, no one knew who would come out on top. Finally came out the team Banners and the driveri totah that went along with them, and the two teams chanted out their choreographed Hebrew and English songs. 

The drama was intense. The students were on the edge of their seats.

The Green Team was ultimately the victor, and well-deserved! 

What an incredible experience this was, and now we are all left wondering–do we really have to wait two more years for the next Color War?