By Jessica Barzilay
This yearâs Fanatic Fest featured a dodgeball battle beween the varsity football and varsity water polo teams, and an â80s Day that had students dancing to cult classic “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins in the quad.
The purpose of the Fanatic Fest, which took place Monday, Sept. 28 through Friday, Oct. 2, was to increase the student bodyâs involvement in Harvard-Westlake athletics, according to Head Fanatic Eli Moghavem â10.
“We wanted to make it better than any of the Fests in the past,” Moghavem said.
The Fanatic Fest culminated with an all-school pep rally in Taper Gymnasium on Friday, wich opened with a performance by the cheerleaders.
In the annual slam dunk contest, Eric Swoope â10 triumphed, defeating Zena Edosomwan â12 and Nate Bulluck â10 by getting the loudest round of applause.
The dodgeball game between representatives from the football and water polo teams was a new addition to the spirit assembly. The football squad took an early lead and went on to beat the waterpolo team.
After another dance number by the cheerleaders, a second dodgeball game began. This time, the Prefect Council and volunteers were pitted against the former middle school intramural dodgeball champions, the Monstars.
The Monstars quickly eliminated all of the opposition except Senior Prefect Jennie Porter â10. Porter then managed to take down every Monstar except for Austin Kelly â10, but Kelly managed to catch one of Porterâs throws, giving the Monstars the victory over the Prefect Council.
Each day of the Fanatic Fest was devoted to a different theme. On Tuesday, Colors Day, each grade was encouraged to wear a certain color. On Wednesday, â80âs Day, students donned 1980s attire. Thursday was Sports Day when students sported athletic apparel. On Friday, the day of the spirit assembly, students were asked to wear red for Red Alert day.
Moghavem views the week-long Fanatic Fest as a success, and hopes it helps turnout at sporting events throughout the 2009-2010 school year.
“There was a huge turnout at the Homecoming game [the next day], which we think the Fest helped a lot,” Moghavem said.
