As Spirit Week brought themed costume days to campus and the excitement of Homecoming and the Fall Community Event approached, Ravens in the Upper School enjoyed three special events that pumped up good-natured rivalries and showed their school spirit.

The fun began on Wednesday afternoon with Stark Raven Madness, an afternoon of competition across a number field day-style activities. The event — which helped freshmen, sophomores and juniors release the stress after the morning’s newly all-online PSAT and seniors step away from the stress of college applications — saw the Gold Team go head-to-head against the Green Team, with advisories in all four grades working to earn points for their team. 

The Gold Team — which won three of the four tug-of-war competitions in Warner Arena that kicked off the event — carried their lead through the afternoon and emerged victorious.

The fun spilled over into Thursday with two contests that pitted class against class. 

The first was the 9-10 Ultimate Frisbee Classic, which debuted last year as a way to give both the freshmen and sophomore classes new opportunities to try new things and work as a team.

Freshman Dean Philip Kielty said the win was a nice way to move past the final score of last year’s inaugural event. “The Class of 2026 came from behind to tie the match with two seconds left and won 6-5 in sudden-death overtime, avenging last year’s embarrassing 7-1 loss.”

Freshman Tanner Bradford ’27 agreed, noting that the highlight was “definitely the freshmen winning at the last minute. As a team we showed great collaboration and support towards each other. We never gave up and worked together to win the game.”

“It was really fun to see the sophomore and freshman classes working together to represent their grade,” Sophomore Dean Jim Martin said. “Everyone who came out ended up having a really fun time!”

“It was fun to play with kids from my class that I don’t usually have classes with and that I wouldn’t normally spend time with,” sophomore team captain Jack Oates ’26 said. “I also think it was a good opportunity to get to know some people in the freshman class because I’ll be going to school with them for three years.”

The night’s second event was the Women’s Football Championship, a game of flag football that pits the junior class against the senior class. As the senior class has a strong record of wins in recent years, the stakes were high for the Class of 2024.

“Homecoming week was a special week for the seniors as we soak up our last memories at Ravenscroft,” participant Brooke Swift ’24 said. “Our one goal was to win for the senior class.”

“I’m happy to report that, in the contest between two groups of strong, powerful women, the seniors remain undefeated. They used their experience from last year to present a strong, united front; their precise kicks and fleet feet led them to victory!” Senior Dean Ali Olney reported. “The junior class put up a strong fight, and I am looking forward to winning next year, too, when they’re seniors.”

Junior Dean Matt Thomas humorously acknowledged the senior class’s ongoing dominance in the event. “As the junior dean, I am now 0-3 in Women’s Football Championship games. I know it's not about me — the junior class had a ton of fun over the past week practicing together — but it would be nice to win at some point! Looking forward to coaching up the current sophomores for next year’s game.”

At the end of the week, however, everyone set aside their rivalries as the school prepared for the many activities of Homecoming. Students enjoyed the pride of being a Raven as multiple home athletic competitions took place, with the varsity volleyball team wrapping up their undefeated season and taking their place as conference champions. The night ended with the varsity football team, under Jim Gibbons in his first year as head coach, defeating Wake Christian 42-14. Way to go, Ravens!