The Life West student body is known for vibrant energy that radiates down the halls of its campus. During a time where distance has been placed between us, students have actively participated in closing that distance and remaining connected through various different avenues. This quarter students participated in an Original Canvas Contest, a Game Night, and a Pizza Night. Most exciting of all was the Chiro Cup, where students who reside together were able to battle students of a different house in a series of challenges that tested the creativity, logic, fitness, communication skills and teamwork. The first-place team received $500 and the second-place team received $100.
Challenge #1: The Balloon Tower
For the initial challenge, students were shipped 12-inch balloons and masking tape and were instructed to build the tallest tower possible using only the materials they were shipped and a flat surface. There was an incredible amount of creative structures built and final heights were impressive. The winner for this challenge was the Broasis House, with a balloon tower taller than their house! The biggest challenge was battling the wind in keeping the balance of the tower, but the guys did a great job. We congratulate Clint Clifford, Brad Foote, Alex Castellanos, Micah Johnsurd, Danny Bogard, Ian Antivich, and Scott Yip for winning this competition. All of the groups demonstrated a high level of logic and teamwork in building the topsy turvy tower.
Challenge #2: The Jump Rope Challenge
In a challenge of skill and endurance, houses were challenged to jump rope for as long as they could. Jump ropes were shipped to the houses along with a click counter. Participants were instructed to submit a recording and count of the number of jumps. I have been most impressed by this competition as many of our fit houses reached numbers higher than 600! Broasis won this challenge with 920 consecutive jumps!
Bonus Challenge: Life West Proud
Our student body pride was challenged in a surprise bonus challenge. The bonus challenge was incorporated to increase the already competitive contest with a large number of points. This gave teams who were behind a chance to catch up. The Big Blue House members went all out with the face painting and pompoms while the F-R-I-E-N-D-S House represented all of our school sports and our Give, Do, Love, Serve mission. City Walkers walked away from this bonus challenge with an additional 20 points because of the number of representations of their Life West Pride. They used human anatomy skeletons, fashion, philosophy, technology and even featured our President, Dr. Oberstein. Nikki Nguyen, Jasleen Kaur, and Alyssa Carrillo are proof that you don’t need too many people to have the most Life West pride!
Challenge #3: Domino Fall
Special dominoes were shipped out to students to create the most creative domino fall possible. The difficulty with this challenge was the level of precision needed to create an effective, consecutive domino fall. Team submissions were astonishing. Submissions incorporated shapes and words spelled out through the trajectory of the domino fall. F-R-I-E-N-D-S won this challenge with the most creative, consecutive domino fall which was initiated by a toggle impulse on a speeder board. Alexis Edwards and her housemates, Bronston Kopala, Nikki Kielkowicz, Kiera Kaminski, Danie Oosthuizen, and Michael Hanson deserve the ‘W’ for their outstanding domino fall.
Challenge #4: The Highest View
To get our students out into the fresh air, the final challenge required that they climb to the highest point with a beautiful view. Since some students traveled for the holidays, this gave everyone the opportunity the option to select a Bay Area view or one from where they travelled. The Toscana house swept the competition with a view from 3,850 feet and City Walkers came in at a very close second with a view from 3,823 feet. The breathtaking views captured by the other houses do not fall short. The Big Blue House shared the hike and the view among their nine friends and the image is one that represents exactly who our students are at Life West.
And the winner is…
The overall winners of the contest was the City Walkers house, with a final score of 59 points. The Toscana house followed closely at 57 points, and The Big Blue House came in third with 55 points. The Chiro Cup will be back in a future quarter because it was so thoroughly enjoyed by participants and non-participants. This student event is only one of the many ways students have remained connected and engaged at Life West. Distance is not an insurmountable obstacle for our community dedicated to giving, doing, loving, and serving.