Summer is here. Students can taste it. But not before the annual wacko-ball game.
The what-ball game?
While others might have their own traditions to put a bow on the school year, Silver Lake Elementary in Eagle Mountain does their own thing. No typical team sports here. Instead, the last full day of school this year, May 23, pitted the sixth grade versus the faculty. After years of watching the older kids play, it was finally time for sixth grader Hudson Tucker to shine.
“I’m, like, living my third grade dream,” she declared behind the backstop.
Tucker was loud enough to be heard above the cheers of her classmates who buzzed with energy. The entire school was on the sidelines to watch the highly anticipated match.
Wacko-ball, if you’re not in the know, sounds like the fever dream of a third grader. The game is played around bases like softball or kickball, but the equipment is from racquetball. A pitcher throws a small, colorful bouncy racquetball and the person at bat uses the racket to try to hit it into the field.
The mish-mash of sports is only part of the challenge. The hardest part of the game, according to Principal Joel Miller, is the requirement to drop the racket into a hula hoop before you run to first base — a detail commonly lost in the heat of competition.
“If it doesn’t make it into the hula hoop, you got to go back and put it in the hula hoop,” Miller explained. “And you will see it really is the hardest part because people always forget.”
This includes one teacher who confidently sprinted around the bases. She was so focused that she didn’t hear the chorus of yells telling her to go back to the hula hoop. When some of the teachers were up to bat, their students on the sidelines reminded them to put the racket in the hoop.
It’s a game that’s hard to be skilled at. With all the wind that day in Eagle Mountain, the small ball bounced all over the place. But it was easy for students and staff to really get into the competition.
One student bet on the outcome of the game with the art teacher, who is also his neighbor. If the sixth graders won, the teacher owed the student a specialty soda. And there was definitely some light-hearted trash talk.
While sixth grade teacher Bobbi Edwards talked about how talented her students are and how much she will miss them, one of them walked by and said, “you guys are gonna need some tissues for when you guys lose.” Edwards laughed.
All the ragging on each other aside, both Edwards and Miller are proud of this group of students on the field. Silver Lake's first year as a school was in 2020. Before that, some of these students changed schools multiple times.
“So for some of them, this is the first continuity they’ve had,” Edwards said. “Once we passed that two-year mark, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re staying together.”
2020 was already a challenging year for schools nationwide because of the COVID-19 pandemic, when students faced an upended routine, virtual classes and potential learning losses. At Silver Lake, Miller said it was a hard way to start.
“I’ve worked with these kids for four years. And the other night when we had our sixth grade graduation, I cried because I was just so proud of them and the relationships that we’ve built together as a school community,” Miller said.
Edwards said she’s seen this group come together and is impressed by the awareness students have for each other, as well as for teachers and younger students. Sometimes, these students are able to help others in ways even she can’t.
“They’re on their same language and they just meet those needs. And they’re always looking to help. So, yeah, they’re just a really special group,” Edwards said.
When they were not up to bat, students savored their last moments at Silver Lake and made plans for the summer. A couple of students walked around in white t-shirts and asked their peers to sign them in colorful sharpies.
For sixth grade student Tucker, even getting to live the dream of playing wacko-ball came with a bittersweet feeling.
“It’s the last year, like, of elementary school. It’s the last full day today, and last recess, last everything,” Tucker said. “And so it’s going to be hard to let that go. But, you know, change is everywhere.”
She’s proud of the school year she had and liked having Edwards as a teacher.
“Literally, I think she’s my favorite teacher I’ver ever gotten. And don’t tell the other teachers,” Tucker said with a laugh.
She’s sad to leave Silver Lake, but at the same time is excited for middle school. That mix of feelings was echoed by Tucker’s classmates.
“I’m going into middle school, so it’s kinda iffy on if I want to be out of elementary school,” said fellow sixth grader Treyson Reynolds. “I’m nervous about getting to my classes in time. But I’m excited that I get to choose what classes I’m going to get.”
Kaitlyn White is scared about what the future will mean for her relationship with her friends. She’s heard from a lot of people that you “lose your friends” in middle school. On top of that, White said her family could also move and that’s an added anxiety for her.
“I have a really good friend group and we’re really close. And I’m just worried that we’re not going to see each other. And I don’t want to move because in middle school, we’d drift apart. And then if I move, we drift even further,” White said.
But those are worries for later. All the students said they’re excited for summer and to hang out with friends and family and to sleep in. While there will be some work for faculty over the summer prepping for the next school year, the staff said they’re excited for the same things, too.
It’s a close game of wacko-ball, but the students came out on top by one point. After the win, Tucker went to principal Miller to brag. She called this day the “best day in Silver Lake history because sixth grade won for the first time.”
While Miller congratulated Tucker, he said that’s not actually true. He tried to tell her about the last time students won, but she didn’t want to hear it. To her, this day was historic.
