A Spirited Red & White Competition Leads Up to Friday Night Lights Celebration

Red & White is a boisterous affair marked by friendly competition; the categories may vary a bit, but this year’s was a mashup of Let’s Make A Deal, Trivial Pursuit, Charades, Name that Tune, and American Idol. The entire student body was divided into two teams, one red and one white, and faculty members Julia Auster-Hogan and Sequoyah Reynoso served as the emcees. As the questions or challenges were posed, students raced to be first to grab the chair at the front of the crowd and earn the right to gain a point for their team.

Under bright sunshine on the Lank Quadrangle, the festivities got underway with students competing to find various California-themed items: sun screen, lip balm, sunglasses, and something with the word “surf” printed on it. Next up, students were grilled on such California trivia as the state tree, along with a few bits of Dahlem trivia. 

Groups of Middle and Upper School students from each team paired up to act out Dahlem-themed charades; students were then asked to identify famous Ryans: Gosling, Reynolds, Meg, Altman (the last one, Rivers junior Ryan Altman, perhaps a bit less well-known than the others). 

Finally, in the music categories, students and faculty members were invited to identify songs after hearing just a few notes and to sing along with popular tunes.

In the end, the Red team prevailed, but in true Rivers fashion, all students and faculty members who made their way to the front of the stage were cheered by their own teams and the opposing team. Red & White is a friendly competition, and the emphasis is firmly on friendly. Afterward, a group of students tossing a ball around on the quad were asked which team had been the victor. Some said it was Red; others claimed it was White. The outcome, it seemed, was far less important than the experience itself: Win or lose, the whole community enjoyed the zany contest and the school spirit it inspired, building toward tonight’s celebratory welcome party for Dahlem and the boys’ soccer game—the first Friday Night Lights event of the season.