Following an annual tradition, Westwood International Baccalaureate (IB) students put on an Amazing Race event on Saturday, April 15. From 4-8 p.m., the IB community gathered at Westwood to complete challenges and compete against each other in a day of fun. Initially started about 15 years ago as a day for IB students to bond, each event has featured a different theme related to the IB curriculum.

The Amazing Race is the first event planned by the newly elected junior IB officers. This year, they chose the theme to be “IB Lit,” focusing on books they read throughout the course.

“The theme last year was ‘History Through the Years’ and we thought we wanted to focus on a subject area as well,” Spencer Sartin ‘18, IB Junior President, said. “It was between the sciences and literature but the sciences are diverse, and we wanted more uniformity so we thought literature was a good way to go for it.”

The events and challenges during the day were inspired by various works the students had read, such as short stories by Franz Kafka, A Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and others. Separate committees within the junior officer group were in charge of different events.

“We started by creating committees so we could plan the specifics of each of the six different events and the opening and closing ceremonies,” Sartin said. “We broke off into groups of two and three in the officer group.”

The events ranged from a mock-fight with pool noodles to an escape room inspired by Kafka. Each one had different, often obscure, connections to the literature pieces.

“An event we had was a Christmas tree decoration where one member of each group would pretend to be a Christmas tree,” Kush Desai ‘18, IB Junior Vice President said. “Others would decorate them using green paper and sequins and that was based off A Doll’s House.”

Based off the TV show of the same name, students and competing teams were judged based on two pieces of criteria and a point system. The team with the most points was later awarded the “Golden Duck,” a reference to the mascot of the Westwood IB program.

“People were judged on two factors,” Desai said. “The time it took from them to go from event to event and points based on a 10 point system per event.”

This year, the “Nasty Women” team took home the win. Even though it was a competition, the event involved cooperation and celebrated the IB community.

“I liked how it brought IB together as a community,” Desai said. “It really showed that when we come together we can have a lot of fun. I like how tight-knit IB is, that I can walk up to any IB kid and have a conversation with them without knowing them really well.”

Although IB is an academic program, the Amazing Race began as an opportunity for IB students to gather and just have fun. Ms. Kelly Saenz, an IB history teacher, enjoyed taking part in the event to see the students have a good time.

“It gives us a break from what people always say is the pressure of getting good grades and being in IB and taking these hard courses,” Ms. Saenz said. “There’s still a lot of friendship and fellowship. I think that’s part of the IB spirit. You have a really tough curriculum and a lot of high expectations, but the people come first.”