This year marks the fifth anniversary of Flight as a Wahlert tradition, and the junior Senate made sure that it was one to remember.

Last  Tuesday night, 16 seniors took part in competition at Wahlert. This year, it lasted until 11 p.m., but in past years the games went all night long. Players completed different challenges, races and contests to earn points, all in competition for the coveted title of “Flight Champion.”

The night began with an initiation ceremony, where participants were given bandanas and asked to recite an oath to “uphold the duties and responsibilities of being a Flight member.”

“It was really intense,” said Bridget Kircher, ‘18. “I definitely surprised myself with how competitive I was.”

This was a year of firsts for Flight, with many never-before-seen challenges being introduced. For instance, the first team game played was a frozen t-shirt competition, where players tried to be the first to break apart their t-shirt (which was frozen solid) and put it on. It may have been 40 degrees outside, but that didn’t stop these seniors, who finished in under 10 minutes.

New Flight challenges spiced things up a bit, but some classics found a place in the competition, like “Hungry, Hungry Hippos.” Players reenacted the children’s board game by laying on scooters and having their partners push them to the center so they could pick up balloons with a trash can and bring them back to their corner of the gym.

But, games like these weren’t the only way to earn points. Throughout the night, members of the Junior Senate asked trivia questions over the intercom and players texted in their answers to earn a point. There were also Chinese finger traps placed all over the school, which participants could find and redeem for a point each.

At the end of the night, the rankings were announced and the top four point-earners moved on to the final challenge at Friday’s pep rally. Jimmy McDermott, Mykenna Horchak, Jack Jaeger and Owen Borelli, ‘18, all earned spots and competed at the final showdown.

At the pep rally, the final four competed in a game of Knockout and Chubby Bunny, until it was down to just McDermott and Jaeger. The two had to search for three jellybeans in a plate of whipped cream without using their hands, and McDermott eventually came out on top to be the 2018 Flight Champion.

“It was pretty incredible, especially for a guy who only comes to school about once a week,” said McDermott.

Most of the night was fun and games, but Flight served as a little more for the soon-to-be departed seniors. “The games and stuff were fun, but the best part was just spending time with all my friends and people I didn’t know very well,” said Borelli. “We only have a few weeks left, and I think Flight really brought us together.”