At Roosevelt School, the Turkey Bowl has always been a popular event that students look forward to and enjoy. In the past, it was played on the half-day before Thanksgiving break, and 7th grade girls would play 8th grade girls in a game of flag football. Several teachers, and some 7th and 8th grade boys, would serve as coaches for the teams, and the rest of the school would watch the game from the sidelines. However, this year the game was not played, and instead students and staff participated in a volleyball game the day before Thanksgiving break. Some students were upset that the Turkey Bowl was not played, so we interviewed Ms. Dickey, the 8th grade Counselor, and asked her some questions about the future of the event.
Since the game was not played before Thanksgiving, will there be a different flag football game later in the year?
“Yes, if that’s something that students want then we can definitely look into doing something in the spring.”
Why wasn’t the Turkey Bowl played in November?
“Well first of all we did not do it this year because no one really stepped up to spearhead the event. The Student Council was in the process of planning the “Wild, Wild Westfield” Dance that was held the week before Thanksgiving. In the past, we did not have a dance the week before Thanksgiving and it would have been very difficult for the Student Council to manage that and the Turkey Bowl.”
If we do play the game in the spring, what would the teams be like?
“First of all, Mr Gechtman has been very clear that the teams have to include boys and girls, and they can not be just boys or just girls. It would probably be both 7th graders and 8th graders participating, and they would have to be mixed gender teams.”
After speaking with Ms. Dickey, we discussed the issue with many students and found that overwhelmingly, students would prefer that the game be played the way it was in the past with girls playing against girls and boys coaching the teams. However, despite the wishes of the students, that will not be possible moving forward.
