The crowd roars as the MC announces the next face-off. Hundreds of people get up on their feet, screaming and clapping to support their team. Each section of the gymnasium is packed, separated by different people wearing different outfits matching their team. 

No, this is not the NBA finals or the MMA Championship, this is Class Day. 

In an effort to bring RHS students together and celebrate their success, RHS Associate Principal Doug Faris, along with Class Council, designed RHS’ newest event, Class Day. 

The inspiration from Class Day stemmed from a tradition at Faris’ previous job at Akron Public Schools.

“I spent my first fourteen years in Akron schools, and we had this tradition at the school I [worked at the longest] of doing Class Day. It was in the spring; it was kind of around the time when the seniors were almost done, and it really is just indoor field day for high school kids,” Faris said. 

Similarly, when RHS principal Dr. Andy Peltz heard about the potential of this event, he realized he had also done a similar event at one of the schools he previously taught at. 

“When I told Dr. Peltz about how we started talking about this, he [said], ‘Oh, my gosh, I did this at St. V. . . I know exactly what you’re talking about,’” Faris said. 

Although the name varies between districts, Faris realized that Revere High School was missing out on this field-day-like event that many other schools had.

“Some schools call it like, Great Olympics, or whatever name they have for it, but we’re just calling it Class Day. It’s class competitions, so the classes are going to compete against each other. And there’s really no prizes or anything involved, it’s more just like bragging rights,” Faris said. 

Although the events are designed for older kids, Faris compares this event to a traditional field day at an elementary school. 

“When you’re in elementary school, you participate in field day races, and we thought that there has to be something we can do for our seniors to have to let them have some fun,” Faris said.

In addition to being a de-stressor, Faris and Peltz hope the event will resonate with students and staff when they look back on their time at RHS. 

“Dr. Peltz and I talked about the student experience, that’s our catchphrase. We want kids to come in as freshmen, and then leave as seniors, and have memories that are beyond how to solve an algebra problem. That is very important, and I’m not taking away from that, but we also want to have kids have those memories and staff to have memories of really fun big events,” Faris said.

Revere has typically been seen as an academically-focused district, and although Faris embraces the importance of academics, he wants students to understand that there is more than a report card to high school. 

“We’re always very concerned about the culture of our school. So the last couple of years, the culture wasn’t really great. We feel like this year has been a lot more positive, and we’re hoping that this can add to the positive culture,” Faris said.

Faris hopes the effect and goals of Class Day last more than the two hours the actual event will be taking place during. 

“We’re hoping the class they can fit in there is one of those events that kids look forward to every year, and that they are excited about because, for one, they get out of a couple of classes. [Secondly], they get the opportunity to just be a kid. You guys are in such a hurry to grow up. You’re driving, you have jobs, you’re making decisions about your future. Sometimes it’s okay just to be a 15, 16, 17, 18 year-old kid, and that’s what we want to encourage,” Faris said.

Junior Class Council President Merit Wagstaff has been planning this event for many years and hopes it brings a positive energy to the school. 

“The ultimate goal is to be able to have this be something that’s hyped up every year because it’s part of the culture. Assuming this all goes well and let’s just say five years from now, everyone’s already ready for the annual class day. We’re all pumped up,” Wagstaff said.

Wagstaff hopes one day the legacy of class day will provide the same friendly rivalry and energy the houses face within J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. 

“[With] each grade level, it’s kind of like Harry Potter, Slytherin [v. Gryffindor] kind of competition. You know, they always talk about stuff. We wanted to make a big talk [at] the school that’s a friendly competitive day that we have every single year that we’ll look forward to,” Wagstaff said. 

Wagstaff is the Junior Class Council President and has been class council president since his freshman year. 

“November of my freshman year, Mr. Faris came up to me and [said] ‘I’m thinking about doing a really fun day,’ and I [said] ‘actually, I was thinking that too,’ because at my old school, my middle school since I didn’t go to Revere Middle School, we used to do these things called like Spring Fling, basically the same thing as Class Day,” Wagstaff said. 

Although the idea of a Class Day has been circulating for more than two years, COVID prevented the event from coming to fruition until this year. 

“Two years ago, I brought the idea to the class councils back then. So let’s see that would have been this year, seniors would have been sophomores and this year’s juniors would have been freshmen. And then COVID happened, we couldn’t do it,” Faris said.

Even though most of the COVID-related mandates have been lifted, assemblies have been tricky. 

“Dr. Peltz, I told him about it [when he became principal] and that we started planning it. Then COVID happened, so we weren’t even in school in 2020, to do Class Day, and then last year, we couldn’t have whole school assemblies and stuff,” Faris said.

Faris explained why the timing of Class Day is so important. 

“We’re working hard. These tests are going on. AP tests are coming up, so everybody’s stressed. You know, seniors are worried about internships. They’re worried about graduation. Juniors are realizing that, you know, they’re up next and they [have] to start making decisions about college, work and everything,” Faris said. 

As part of the competition, each class was encouraged to dress following a certain color to increase unity. Freshmen wore white, sophomores wore red, juniors wore blue and seniors had their own special theme. 

“The idea is the underclassmen all have their colors. . . The seniors will be hidden, they’re going to be in the aux gym, and then they’re not going to come out right away. Then Dr. Peltz and I are going to kind of play it up, ‘like yo, where are the seniors did they leave? Like what’s going on?’ And then they’re going to drop some music, and then [the seniors] are all going to come out. And hopefully, they’re all dressed in their theme,” Faris said.

Nnemdi Amanambu is the senior class council president. Although the planning of the event was mostly led by the underclassmen representatives as they will be the ones continuing the event in future years, Amanambu helped supervise the planning and the senior theme. 

Amanambu explained how the senior class decided on their theme. 

“We had a class meeting on one of those hour delays where we had to come in early for. We were talking about prom, and at the very end, all the class officers came down and asked everyone to think of some themes. We [discussed] different themes like Clash of Clans, 70s, superheroes, minions, and other ones. Essentially everyone gave their ideas, and we put it on a google form and sent it to the entire class and they voted,” Amanambu said. 

Ultimately, the superhero theme won. Amanambu explained what effect having a unifying senior theme had on the school. 

“It was fun to plan it out for everyone. Everyone was thinking about what superhero they were going to do, and it was just fun to dress up. Also, it kind of made the senior class have an identity for that. Colors are great, but having a whole costume is even better. I think it really just helped hype up everyone,” Amanambu said. 

Similar to how the senior class took worked together on their theme, Faris hopes that the excitement spreads, and students will be inspired to add their own touch to the event.

“It’s been interesting because I know in my mind what Class Day looked like, you know, with my other school, and I can tell you that the kids genuinely had a good time,” Faris said. 

Faris hopes the excitement from this year’s event will inspire future classes. Faris explained a theme students came up with at his former school. 

“One year, they did a Viking ship theme. I don’t even know how they did it. They built like this Viking Ship; it was all undercover. And then when they came out. At my [former] school, there was a huge tunnel, so they hid this thing in the tunnel, and then they came out and they were like half of them were running around half or more on like this Viking ship, and they were all Vikings. It was so cool. And I will tell you that so many kids remember that,” Faris said. 

Class Council came up with twenty total events for each grade for students to sign up for. Most events were divided into male and female categories, but some were composed of all genders. Faris discussed the events both he and the students are looking forward to. 

“Dodgeball is the most popular thing by far. I like scooter race. I mean, come on, who won’t laugh at that? I think that’ll be really funny. Honestly, like a lot of them were ones we did in Akron, but then the kids here came up with some cool ones too,” Faris said.

The events range from team dodgeball to a Hula-Hoop circle contest. The classes will compete in a bracket-style showdown, with the winner receiving the most points. Wagstaff explained the contest aspect of the event. 

“There’s a point system. I think it’s if you come in first place, you get four points, second–three, and so on. . .That’s how the point system works. I think whoever has the most points in the very end wins,” Wagstaff said.

Although many events such as tug-of-war require physical strength, class council made sure to include events that cater to every type of strength. 

“The class officers really wanted to do a non-physical one, so that’s why we’re doing the academic [challenge]. During that time, we’re going to play a song, and it’s going to be loud, and it’s going to be funny to watch the kids try to take a really hard quiz when the music’s blasting. . . I’m excited about that, just to see what happens, they’re all going to be senior-level questions, so it might be kind of sad to see some of the freshmen struggle, or maybe they’ll get them right. I don’t know. They’re brilliant,” Faris said.

Although time constraints cut some events short, including the pizza box relay, Faris will use these events as a basis for years to come. Faris explained the idea of the pizza box relay. 

“I am picking up 32 pizza boxes from Teresa’s Pizza, and what the kids want to do is everybody gets a box, there’s eight people. If I run down to you, you have to stack your box on top of mine, and then we have to hand it off. Then you have to run to the last person, who is going to have to carry eight boxes. If they fall over, they’re allowed to pick them up real quick,” Faris said.

While each event is going on, the students not participating will be watching from the bleachers and cheering on their team. 

“We’re going to have several teachers that are the judges, and then, of course, when you put 860 kids in a gym, I’m going to need some teachers just for crowd control. . . We have one teacher, Mr. Rahas, [who] has volunteered to be the MC, like the commentator to kind of keep things moving,” Faris said.

After an hour-long battle amongst the grades, the senior class was named the honorary winners as a result of their spirit and support, and like a scene from High School Musical, the entire school headed down to the gymnasium floor and sang and danced the cupid shuffle. Although the underclassmen are already plotting their revenge, the event stood as a reminder that “we are all in this together.”