The annual Amazing Race is closing in on us soon at University High School. The end of the day on Dec. 23 marks the start of Winter Break for our students, but not without a few traditions.

Every year UHSSE holds The Amazing Race, a day-long event where students team up to take on a series of tasks, around the school, like social studies teacher Jon Bevans’ mini-golf challenge.

The first team to complete all the challenges receives a prize. Last year, we saw math teacher Carson Dunn allow the winning team to shave his head in whatever way they deemed fit. This year’s award is a bit different. The winning team will each receive a tie-dye t-shirt they can wear as their uniform all year long.

In addition to this exciting event, the week leading up to the big day will be Spirit Week, a free week-long event where students can dress down (except for uniform pants) according to the theme of the day. From Monday to Friday it is: Hero Day – dress as your favorite hero, Ugly Sweater Contest – Students will be able to vote on the ugliest sweater, Sports Day – represent your favorite team, Hawk Day – show your school pride, and Class Colors on Friday which will tie into the Amazing Race.

This year we will be seeing the return of the pep rally, a tradition that has been triumphantly returned after being pushed to the wayside due to COVID-19 restrictions. This comes with the class colors. Represent your class by wearing a color according to your class year. 9th grade is blue, 10th grade is white, 11th grade is red, and 12th grade is black.

“It will hopefully be a back-to-normal,” said Kate Grayeb, math teacher and organizer for the upcoming Spirit Week and Amazing Race. “We all want [The Amazing Race] to be an opportunity to bring the school community.”

With that in mind, let’s all get ready to have a good time and have fun during this exciting event during the most festive time of the year.