By DANIEL VRABLIC ‘20 and JAMESON BURNETT ‘21
Field Day is a newly formed tradition that is honored and revered by students here at St. Ignatius. Whether playing kickball on Wasmer Field or throwing water balloons at your friends, Field Day embodies the high spirits of St. Ignatius students. This year, however, is drastically different. This year’s Field Day is scheduled to be on April 27, nearly a month before the end of the school year. This date is not in the best interest of us, the students, and should be returned to its rightful date at the end of the year as it always had been before. If the date of April 27 remains, a cherished tradition could be in serious jeopardy.
With Field Day being a new tradition of competitiveness and bonding, the current April 27 date could jeopardize our ability to do such. Not only do students feel uncertain about the current position of Field Day, but seventeen years of weather reports that have been conducted on April 27 suggest that a field day on May 21 is a better choice. According to the data collected by cleveland.com, the average low temperature on April 27 has been in the 50’s or lower 50% of the time for the last 17 years. This alarming data also indicates that in Cleveland, we are just as likely to get a day in the 50’s in April as we are to get a day in the 70’s in May. Those 20 degrees make a big difference when participating in a water balloon toss.
In all fairness, the school’s reason for pulling Field Day into April is because it falls too close to AP exams should it occur on May 18 like it did last year. At the same time, moving Field Day forward by three weeks is overzealous. Not only does this whisk field day into what we can expect to be a 50o day, but a 50o day in April — statistically the stormiest month in Cleveland. Aside from the cold weather, field day is generally connoted as an end-of-the-year event, too. Hosting it several weeks before exams could be hazardous to the nearing-vacation vibe it gives.
It’s not too late to change Field Day back, however. Working with the St. Ignatius administration, the Eye intends to have field day hosted on a warm day with the sun shining; where it belongs. Because Field Day, as a tradition, is all but a holiday at Ignatius. It’s a day where we set aside our academics and band together with friends to compete for fun in timeless outdoor games. Quite literally, it would be a shame for our parade to be rained on, and at this moment we very well may be able to take precautions to make sure that doesn’t happen. Hopefully, the date will be switched to the end of the school year, where it belongs.
