On Saturday, January 14, Alliance High School held a “fun night” for the students. It is a one night event in which students are invited to both have fun and support the high school by paying a two dollar entry fee or providing a can of food for the Backpack Program. Students came to the gym and participated in a variety of supervised games put together by the teachers and student council of AHS.

The idea of fun night was orchestrated to replace the school’s annual winter ball. The profits made from winter ball benefited the school, but was becoming an issue due to students overspending on their formalwear. Hence the reason fun night was created as an affordable solution for both the school and students.

This year, games varied from the simple board game twister to blind volleyball. The games were scattered around the entire gym and opened for use at 7 PM. Right as 7 O’Clock hit, students rushed to join in on the games they wanted to play.

On the stage, areas designated for cards, Twister, and large versions of Jenga and Connect 4 were quickly filled.

During the first game of Jenga, juniors Alivia Carlson, Diana Acosta, and Madison Korte took their places on the stage and alternated turns pulling out a piece of wood from the stack of blocks. After they pulled out their selected block, they were required to put the block back on top of the stack increasing the height of the tower.

“I’m gonna take this [her jacket] off, it’s getting hot,” stressed Diana Acosta while taking her turn. Eventually, the tower was tipped over, which symbolized the end of the game.

Soon after this game of Jenga, Mrs. Hiemstra blew her whistle to start blind volleyball on the gym floor. Six boys and six girls took their places on the opposite ends of the court to play in a boys versus girls game.

Each team approached the game with a different strategy. The girls held their proper volleyball stance and waited for the ball to come to them. When the ball came, they alternated between passing, setting, and spiking until they scored a point over the boys.

Unlike the girls and their perfect form, the boys either squated all the way down to the ground or stood up while waiting for the serve. When the ball came, the boys were not afraid to risk scraping a knee and dive for the ball completely unaffected by the lack of knee pads.

In the art room, Mrs. Brock, the art teacher at AHS, held a “paint and pop”. A few weeks prior to this day, students were asked to sign up for this activity so that the appropriate supplies could be obtained.

During paint and pop, Mrs. Brock directed the students at the front of the classroom on how to make a large wooden sign. On the boards, the students painted a sunset background with some grass lining the bottom. The students then chose a word or their name to vertically paint onto the board above the grass line.

Mrs. Brock then offered the students some homemade cupcake that didn’t last longer than ten minutes after one student exclaimed, “I want to date one [the cupcake]!”

The activity that drew the biggest number of players was ping pong. There were six tables set up with two to four players at each table. Each player went for multiple rounds while switching opponents or teammates.

Halfway through the night, there was an unannounced championship going on between Grace Tolstedt and Eric Pollack.

The game ended with Tolstedt taking the victory and Pollack left in confusion.

He stated, “wait that was the championship?” He then pridefully continued, “If I would have known that I would have taken it more seriously. I could have won!”

The night began to wind down when Mr. Clear, the school’s principal, played a couple rounds of ping pong. He started his reign by playing two teachers and eventually moving on to play the loser of the championship, Eric Pollack.

Once one of Mr. Clear’s rounds ended, he searched for a new opponent. When he spotted the person he wanted to play, he moved to stand next to the railing of the balcony. He challenged his next opponent by shouting, “Coach Palomo” across the gym. Clear’s challenge was fulfilled later on that night, which eventually lead to Coach Palomo’s lose. After a few more matches, “fun night” came to an end at 10 PM.

All in all, fun night is a chance for students to spend time with their teachers and peers. If you missed fun night this year, I highly recommend you join in on the fun next year.