Prefects were rewarded with simple prizes, such as these necklaces. PHOTO/Renee Debruin ‘08

Before Thanksgiving Break, on Friday, November 16th, prefects were treated to a night of bowling fun. The idea for the event emerged during a weekly dinner that the head prefects have with Ms. Brenner and Mr. Yanelli. As a way to cool off before exams, “the idea was to give all the prefects a chance to de-stress, especially after going through senior fall as a prefect, and applying to college early,” said Mike Koh ’08.

Early on, Vivian Brodie ’08 and Mike “took the reins, worked out the details and the advertising, arranged for the prizes, and helped to organize,” said Ms. Brenner. She continued, “They really managed the whole thing.” Mr. Yanelli and Ms. Brenner helped get lanes booked at the Wallingford Bowl and arranged transportation for everyone going: a big yellow school bus leaving from the SAC. Also, to enable more prefects to attend, Mr. Yanelli ran a smaller shuttle leaving from the Humanities building half-way through the event.

Jen Bashian ’08 and Sam Cabot ’08, the head prefects, “lent their support to the program by getting everybody excited about it,” said Ms.Brenner. Out of sixty-two prefects in total, over half were able to go. So, although there wasn’t a hundred percent participation, many prefects went and everyone had fun. Mike Koh says, “The timing was perfect, since we all were able to have some cool off right before the exams started.”

In terms of cost, Choate helped by paying for shoes, games, and prizes. Koh, Brodie, and Drew Yeager ’08 selected the prizes in the days before the event. Some of the prizes given out were water guns, baseball cards, rubber ducks, Spongebob toys, Post-its, and air fresheners. There were many different awards decided during the bowling night, including prizes for best outfit, most ninja-like, best form, “inner child,” best girl and guy head prefects, and most enthusiasm.

Christian Duffy ’08 and Johnny Whitney ’08 won water guns for the “Most Ninja-Like” prize. Tom Ryoo ’08 won Hot Wheels toy cars for the “inner child” prize. Sam Cabot won an “I can read a book” prize for “Best Guy Head Prefect,” and Erin Turnquest’s team won fuzzy pencils for the most enthusiastic prize. In addition, Jen Bashian won an award for “Best Girl Head Prefect” and Turnquest won a gold star for “Best Form.”

Although some changes were made on the night, most teams were arranged in advance. Prefects were encouraged to RSVP in advance with a team of five to six players. Brodie and Koh asked each team to specify “first, names of members, and second, name of team, for example ‘The Flying Penguins’ or ‘The Three-horned Unicorns’” They continued, “Also, there will be a competition for best team spirit—for example, uniforms, motto, mascot, cheer, hand signal, or bird call.” Upon arriving at the lanes, prefects split into their teams and then bowled two or three games per team. Though scores were not recorded or used in the prize-picking process, many teams were very competitive.

In the past, the Assessment Team has often challenged the Peer Educators to a bowling match. Although prefects have not gone bowling in the past, a prefect trip to a diner did take place last Spring.

In the future, Koh and Brodie are also considering introducing other ideas like Prefect Scuba Diving or Prefect Curling. Next year, Ms. Brenner hopes to continue the Prefect Bowling Night. Prefects who attended this year agree: Koh says, “We would definitely be interested in making it a tradition.”