Many of those involved refer to the Battle of Connects as the best day of the year. This year is the 7th annual event, a field day of activities for students at Austin High School as part of homecoming week.
Each connect classroom competed against other grade levels in a variety of activities on Thursday afternoon to accumulate points for their grade. The winning grade will be announced during today's pep fest.
"They're planning all week," assistant principal Katie Baskin said. "It's a big deal. It's bragging rights."
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Activities were spread throughout the school grounds. Water balloon volleyball, tug of war, egg toss, obstacle course, capture the flag and other games were run by more than 40 volunteers, many of them parents.
Vicki Splinter was helping out with a game called "sandbox," where the teams of connects competed in a relay-type game of grabbing a marble out of a "sandbox," running back to the starting line and placing it in a container.
Splinter, a parent, was helping out for the fifth year. She's had a different game each time, she said.
"It's a blast," she said.
It was class color day, and students pulled out all the stops with things like matching T-shirts, colored leggings and class flags. The festivities got going with a cheering contest in Packer Gym. Principal Brad Bergstrom warned visitors to plug their ears.
"The atmosphere is crazy, I'd say," homecoming king candidate Nate Schwab said.
