This year marks the second annual Red & White Competition at East. This three week long tournament is comprised of a diversity of events, ranging from video games to ping pong to cake baking. Over 700 students – many more than once – have participated, earning points based upon spirit, organization and victory.

This year’s theme was Nerds vs. Jocks with the nerds representing the white team and the jocks representing the red team. Among the diverse activities associated with this year’s competition was the Library Book Contest. This challenged the intellectual capability of students. It’s no wonder the white team fulfilled the studious characteristic of the “Nerd” stereotype and brought home a win for this event.

The Library Book Contest began on Monday, March 28 and ended on Friday, April 8. Each team received points for each library book checked out: 10 points for each book, and 1 point for each page read. The library computer system tracked the number of books checked out and students signed an honor code, pledging that they had truly read the books listed.

One major asset for the white team was Wesley Wang (’19) who set the record for over 3,000 points earned.

Librarians Ms. Greenblatt and Ms. O’Reilly monitored the contest and said they would like to keep it as a part of the Red & White competition for years to come.

“I think that our main goal with the reading competition for Red and White Night was to get students to come into the library who maybe have never stepped foot in here before. [We want to] get them interested in our collection of books that we have, find some fun things to read, and hopefully just [get them to] think about us in the future when they need things for class or things to read for fun,” said O’Reilly.

The Red & White competition is yet another way to express school spirit for East. The competition will conclude tonight, Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. with the eagerly awaited Red & White Night. Tickets are $5 or $7 with a purchased T-shirt.  All proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society Relay for Life or the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.

The score currently stands at 19 points for the white team and 18 for the red team. Be sure to come on out tonight to see which team will conclude this series of competitions with a win!