Rallying around Sport Night

The stands of Hewlett High School’s gym were three-quarters filled about 6 p.m. on March 14 as the seniors ran through the doors. Cheering loud with enthusiasm as anticipated, the seniors set the tone of the spirit for the rest of Sports Night.
Sports Night is held annually in honor of Adam Barsel, a former Hewlett High student. He died in a car accident in 2000, and in his memory the Adam Barsel Scholarship Fund was created. Each year, the majority of the proceeds collected at Sports Night benefit this scholarship. The night is filled with various competitions between grades of sports, relays, dances, and an academic bowl.
The theme for each grade is reflected in their dance, T-shirt, and banner. This year the freshman theme was doctors, the sophomore’s theme was pilots, firefighters for the junior’s and the army for seniors. The week of March 10-14 was Hewlett High School’s second spirit week of the year. Each day students were dressed in special attire to represent their school spirit. The schedule was ‘Merica Monday, Pajama Day Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday, and Theme Day Thursday.
Sports Night competitions included basketball, hockey, volley-ball, tug-o-war, Swedish-relay, and the academic bowl. There are also a boy and girl captain for each grade.
Emily Cohen, a senior caption really appreciates the event. “As a senior, Sports Night is so important and enjoyable because its our final one. This is one of the last events that as a grade we get to share with one another before we all part for college next year,” she said. “It’s one of the major events that occur senior year that we will all remember and take with us to college along with prom and graduation.”

Participating as captain also made the night even more significant for Cohen. As a captain, you help organize the sports, oversee the events, take part in the captain’s relay, and keep your team’s spirit up.
“Being a captain for the seniors was an honor,” Cohen said. “Ever since freshman year I wanted to be Sports Night captain when I became a senior. It was awesome to be captain and try and defend our winning title from last year.”
Luckily for Cohen, the senior class pulled through and won Sports Night. The juniors placed second, sophomores came in third, and then the freshmen. Although this night is very competitive, the true spirit is in bringing the student body together. As a school, the students are gathered to not only have fun, but to also support a great cause.