Decathlon offers friendly competition for Jeff High students

May 23—JEFFERSONVILLE — As they made it through an obstacle course, Jeffersonville High School students rummaged through a pool full of rubber ducks, tossed bouncy balls and searched through a pile of spaghetti to complete various tasks.

Monday was the conclusion of the first Red Devil Decathlon as three teams participated in the Labyrinth, a relay featuring 10 obstacles on the school's soccer field. The decathlon was presented by the school's InterACT club to raise money for a student crisis fund, and it has consisted of 10 events over the course of several weeks.

Teams representing the wrestling, swimming and JROTC teams raced against each other, with team members alternating to complete the various challenges. The swimming team won after edging out the wrestling team by seven seconds.

The sale of T-shirts and tickets to the Labyrinth event raised money for the student crisis fund. InterACT member Rileigh Dethy, a senior at Jeffersonville High School, said the crisis fund will offer financial support for students if they face an emergency.

"It's going toward students who need it — if they have a family emergency or a fire in their house, we can just step up and give them money to get them through those times," she said.

The decathlon was also meant to lift students' spirits, and the Labyrinth competition was a fun event for the last week of school. Dethy said it has given students something to look forward to each day.

"After COVID and everything, our spirit in our school was really, really down, and to be able to put on an event like this and just kind of bring the school back together and find something that energizes people...I think that's been the most impactful thing for me," Dethy said. "We're building a community and also giving back to our community."

Jeffersonville High School teacher Jessica Lacobee is the sponsor for the InterACT Club. The student crisis fund could help a kid in foster care who needs a bed or a kid in need of glasses, she said.

The club's fundraising effort raised about $400 for the fund, according to Lacobee.

"Sometimes money is the answer — service can get so far, but sometimes that service means you have to have funds, and so we wanted to be able to have a student crisis fund," she said.

The teams were narrowed down over the past few weeks as student clubs and organizations participated in the decathlon events during the school day. This included a "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" challenge, a water sports day and boat race in the Jeffersonville High School pool.

Some of the challenges included "trashketball," a challenge requiring contestants to fight against the wind to toss inflatable balls into trash cans, as well as a "Where's Waldo" challenge requiring contestants to dive into a kiddie pool filled with bubble bath and hundreds of rubber ducks to find a specific duck.

The last challenge involved searching a kiddie pool filled with 200 pounds of cooked spaghetti to find a paper with the right combination for a lock. Once the contestant was able to unlock a mallet, they hit a gong to conclude their team's turn at the obstacle course.

The group's "overarching goal was to have kids enjoy school," Lacobee said.

"Students who enjoy school come to school, and they learn better and they're involved more," she said. "Over the past couple years, we've had a culture of negativity in the building because there's been so much change, there's been so much taken away — especially our seniors who have had two years of adversity."

Lauren Monroe, a member of the InterACT club, said the decathlon is a way to serve her "school and community in a creative way."

"It's given me an opportunity to bring up the spirit and just bring our school together through friendly competition," she said.

InterACT member Katie Monroe said she was "glad to be bringing everyone together to work towards a common goal."

"Everyone's different nowadays and we all have different opinions, but we all can come together and try to do something good for our school," she said.

Evan Clayton, a Jeffersonville High School senior, competed with the wrestling team during the decathlon. He completed a challenge involving stacking tires to form a tower.

"Everyone's been so down because of COVID the past two years, so we haven't had a lot of things to do really with school spirit, and this just adds to that enthusiasm," he said.

Jeffersonville High School Principal Pam Hall said she enjoys seeing activities like the decathlon, noting that students have faced a tough school year. She also appreciates that it's "student-driven."

"They came up with the games, they came up with the teams, and we've been doing this for a couple weeks now," she said. "I think it's so special, and we just want to make school fun and end on a positive note. I think it's great to see kids enjoying themselves."