Arr-mazing race

"Our team is Red Hot, our team is Red Hot, R-E-D-H-O-T , Red Hot!"
Seymour High School students were hyped last Wednesday morning as they prepared for their Amazing Race journey - with a pirate theme - at Brown County State Park. The nearly 90 National Honor Society members were divided into 10 teams before leaving the school, where they were given their team colors and had to design a team flag, come up with a team name and chant.

"We put together the teams, and the captains are always the seniors," Susan Edwards, teacher at Seymour High School and a sponsor of the National Honor Society, said.

The Amazing Race has become an annual activity for the society members at the end of the school year. The race begins at a central location in the state park, where students must answer a series of questions to receive their clue. That clue will send them to an area where a challenge awaits.

"These are all pirate questions because that is our theme," Edwards said. "They will go out and complete a task, and then they will run back and answer more questions, get a clue and head back."

The activities and challenges are team-based, encouraging students to work together and help each other.

"They don't get a question or activity until their entire team is there. One guy can't run ahead and get started. It's very much a team activity," Edwards said. "These kids come together with teamwork that you would not believe. It's amazing to see them work together to accomplish their task."

Besides building teamwork, the race is physical and mental.

"Last year we had to run all the way down this hill and then when we got to the bottom of the hill we saw this huge lake and we didn't know where to go; we had to run all the way around the lake," said Kelsey Hubbard, a senior and captain of team Red Hot. "At the end, you are tired and you really just don't want to run anymore, but you kind of push each other."

Hubbard has been red hot throughout her high school career, as she's been on the winning team each spring.

"I like the competition. It's really fun when you come back to the main station and you can see how everyone else is doing," she said. "It just teaches you to work with other people and how to push each other. I think it's something fun and everyone looks forward to it every year. It's just a good way to end the year."

She kept her record intact. The Red Hot team won the competition.

The pirate theme was incorporated into some of this year's challenges, with one of them being an obstacle course. The students had to compete while wearing an eye patch.

 "They don't realize that using an eye patch disorients you. Only using one eye is hard, especially when you are trying to do something athletic like an obstacle course," said Brian Schmidt, a Seymour High School teacher and a National Honor Society sponsor. "There is always a twist to it; we try to keep that twist based on the theme."

Before leaving the high school, each team was judged on best flag and chant. This year the team Pink Floyds won with its song, "We Don't Need No Competition." Team captain David Schulz said this is his second year being on the pink team. He has yet to win the race.

"This year I'm prepared, I'm ready to go. Whatever we've got to do. This is real competition out here, we can't hold anything back," he said before getting on the bus to Brown County.

He added he likes the race because he meets new people on his team. His team received a two-question advantage for winning the preliminary competition.

Senior Adam Otte, in his third year in the National Honor Society, was just glad to be part of the race for the first time.

"I'm looking forward to the teamwork and the cooperation from everybody," he said. "If someone gets behind, everyone stays behind, no one goes ahead. It's a team effort."

The sponsors said they generally pick seniors who have participated in the previous year to serve as team captains.

"So they know what to expect. They are familiar with the area generally because we keep going back to Brown County, so that helps if they get lost," Schmidt said. "Last year a team went off the trail; they were looking at their map and they lost orientation."

The team ended up a half hour out of their way.

"It's funny because they will justify where they went and they don't turn on each other," Edwards said. "Three years ago we had one girl who just could not make it and the boys carried her."

At the end of the race, winning teams receive movie gift cards and McDonald's gift certificates. The teachers also pick a student to receive the leadership award.

"We pick a leadership award out of all of them, and it's basically that type of student who encourages his teammates to keep going," Schmidt said.