Dorm Olympics 2025!

Students at the Rosen stage

Stevenson’s Pirate Cup took place on September 7, where all the dorms competed against each other for the win. That afternoon, the games were opened with Mr. Haight, the science teacher and Atwood dorm teacher, holding the torch that symbolizes the timeless tradition of the real Olympics. After this, the Resident Activities Committee (RAC) gave instructions to officially start the competitions. Students from different grades competed friendly and enthusiastically with each other, creating memorable moments shared between competitors. Ultimately, Atwood won the last activity by showing their dorm spirit in the chant competition. In interviews with Atwood residents, they showed high excitement and pride toward their win. 

When we interviewed multiple students, they all agreed this year’s Dorm Olympics was special. “I remember in my freshman year, all of us were scared of participating in the activities. This year, however, I feel everybody was enthusiastic about it,” said Angela Hao, a current junior from Barrows. Indeed, Stevenson students this year did have high energy and enthusiasm, as evidenced by how competitive the games were and how all dorm people were cheering while their team was playing. This energy and enthusiasm lasted even after some dorms lost the game. Lime Yoon, a 9th-grade Barrow resident, pointed out, “It feels really good when the dorm is united, wearing the same clothes, and cheering for each other." Similarly, a 10th-grade student Alden Birchby claims, “I really enjoy the Dorm Olympics because the games are all team games. When I am collaborating with people at Silverado, I feel closer to them." The idea of team cooperation is often mentioned by Stevenson students while talking about the Dorm Olympic, and it shows how Stevenson students are not only competing for the win. This reflects the true Olympic spirit that could be found in every Stevenson student: competitors achieving friendship and teamwork.

This was only possible because of the activities that RAC set up this year, which let two dorms face each other. Of all the activities, knockout was the most frequently mentioned among students because of its spirit. Ali Liddle, a student from Silverado, describes it as “a genuine group competition” because even though the purpose was to win points, it was also to create a sense of community among the dorms. The first days back at school mean different things to different people – some celebrate them and others are already looking forward to the end of the year – but one thing everyone has in common is their participation in the knockout activity. All of us have something in common, and one of those is our participation in this year's Dorm Olympics. In this case knockout was a fan favorite. Yet some students were surprised not to see some of the old activities from past years. Another fan favorite was the competition of cardboard boats at the pool. As Jerry Ding, a Day East student, reminded us, “We recycle the cardboard, so from there each dorm could decorate and create their boats. I don't know why we didn't do it this year.” From what the study body can deduce, this year, RAC voted for other fun activities such as slip and slide, pool noodle (also a favorite activity), musical chairs, and tug of war.

Quinn Tran, prefect of Wilson/TI and RAC’s senior leader/head, explained to us how this committee works behind the scenes. Tran stated, “This year I had the opportunity to work alongside Profe Colao and the other senior leaders to decide the activities. Afterwards, we reunited with the other RAC members and headed to the dorms for their opinions. When all of that was over, we had exactly one week of notice to organize all of this.” A huge amount of work went into creating the games, which were shown by the students wearing green shirts at each activity. The next step was to assign each member to the activities so they could help us keep score and explain the rules so everyone could understand correctly. In each activity, the dorms gave their best to win points, but Atwood, Day East, and Day West were tied for first place. That is the reason why the “winning dorm" was taken as a "surprise,” as many of the students said. 

This year, the winning dorm is Atwood: a dorm consisting of 9th-grade boys. Until the chants, Atwood was not in the lead. However, with their well-prepared and creative chants, they surpassed Day West and Silverado and won the fall Dorm Olympics. Resident students held different opinions toward Atwood’s win. In an interview with Atwood prefect Cody Thacher, he expressed his surprise at the unexpected win. “Very surprising! This is the first time a freshman dorm won the Dorm Olympics in the past ten years, so it’s really a big thing,” said Thacher excitedly in an interview. Nevertheless, Atwood residents were not the only ones surprised by the results. A resident student living in Silverado was equally surprised. He said, “I actually didn’t expect Atwood to win, because they are a freshman dorm, and Dorm Olympics are really about athletic abilities.” There were also resident students that had different opinions. For example, Liddle said he wasn’t surprised by the result, and he pointed out how Atwood was often misrepresented, as they actually have great athletes. Certainly, these athletic skills were demonstrated, but their success also heavily depended on their great collaboration skills. As Thacher said, every resident in Atwood collaborated with each other and made the win.

Within the few hours of the Dorm Olympics, everyone was brought together. Through the process of playing challenging games, team spirit was developed unknowingly. Now that the Fall Olympics have ended, let’s look forward together to the Spring Dorm Olympics with the same enthusiasm!!