The Oshkosh West Index - Snowblast 2010 Re-cap

Volume 106, Issue 5

Online Features

Snowblast 2010 Re-cap

By Morgan Redemann
posted February 24, 2010

A rite of one winter rivalling the popularity of the winter Olympics has returned with a week of shooting free throws, constructing (and deconstructing) human pyramids, tossing logs, and sliding down hills with Snow Blast 2010. With a total of 66 teams participating in the annual week of winter festivity, it wasn't uncommon to see both students and staff members donning outfits composed of shorts, long underwear, boots, ties, and newspaper hats in even the most remote areas of the school.

"We had the second highest team total in school history; there was great participation with each team participating in at least one event which is probably a record," said gym teacher and intramurals supervisor Joseph Wagner. "Competition was fun and tough, and everyone seemed to be into it which is the whole purpose, participation, having fun, and competing with students and teachers."

The five days of fierce competition transformed what would have been a week of winter doldrums into a winter wonderland from February 1 to February 6.

"It took what would have been a normal week and made it a lot of fun for the kids and made something exciting for them to come to school for during a very boring month of February, which I know a lot of school districts have problems with," said math teacher and intramurals supervisor Kevin Wachholz.

Each day consisted of specific events and dress-up requirements that have been tradition for decades. Although supervised by several staff members at all event sites, injuries, even minor, seem to be inevitable and a part of Snow Blast tradition as well. A few bruises and scrapes from the distance slide down Garbage Hill are always expected, but other events have caused some extremity wear and tear. This year, it was even rumored that the pyramid build may be put to rest after minor incidents. However, Wagner assures that the famous balancing act will remain in the Snow Blast syllabus for years to come.

"There were a couple injuries, nothing major, like the golf club incident of a few years ago, but a young man fell on the hill and hurt his tailbone and couple people on pyramid day fell and hurt their extremities," explained Wagner. "But we're definitely keeping the pyramid build. It's actually safer now than when we used to do it outside on the soccer field."

Prior to this year, Snow Blast came to a screeching halt after sliding down Garbage Hill, but this year, Wachholz decided to incorporate a new activity, giving tradition a make-over with the Snow Blast Dance held on Saturday, February 6.

"We just wanted to have something to bring the kids together and give them an opportunity to have a good time to celebrate with their Snow Blast teams and other kids around them and give them somewhere to go to have good, clean fun," he said.

The new addition to the week, although receiving skepticism at first, was given a thumbs-up from students who attended the black light ball.

"It was held in the big gym, and they had a tunnel coming in with black lights, so that was cool. It looked cool [with the black lights] because everyone wore white," said junior Megan Quandt.

According to Wachholz and the students, the dance environment was the highlight of the night.

"We had the black lights, the DJ stand in the middle, laser lights; the whole gym was decorated with balloons, it was a very neat set-up," he said. "I know that night, there were a lot of kids texting and calling their friends telling them, ‘you got to see the gym, this is awesome; it's an unbelievable set-up.'"

For the first year, Wachholz didn't expect a large crowd, but even with low numbers he could see that the students who did attend had a great experience that rivals even prom and homecoming.

"We had about 160 kids and I think you could talk to any of those 160 kids and they could tell you that it was different, it was fun, and it was a dance that they wished their friends would have been there," he said.

Although attendance was low, the students that did attend had a different and unique experience unlike any other high school dance.

"I thought it was fun, it wasn't just like a regular dance with a DJ; they made everyone get involved with a dance-off and a lip sync competition," said junior Margaret Merrill. "It was cool because we have never done anything like that before at other dances."

Concluding the blast to winter weariness with a fluorescent white shirt event on Saturday night, both Merrill and Quandt hope more students will attend the dance next year.

"I think next year, more people should come if we do this again because it was really fun, and I think people just didn't really know a lot about it, but it was pretty sweet," said Quandt.

With the glowing addition and second best participation in school history by staff and students, Snow Blast 2010 scored another success in breaking the monotony of winter blues.

"I want to thank all of the students and faculty that did participate, because without that participation, Snow Blast isn't what it is," said Wagner. "As the intramural department, Mr. Wachholz, Mr. Fahrney, and myself would like to thank the staff and students for taking part and making it what it is."

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