Glow in the Dark Bowling: How We Spent Our SPARE Time

Busy schedules are inevitable at Brentwood; balancing a multitude of academic, athletic, and artistic endeavours leaves us students with little time to spare, which means we like to make the most of our free time.  This last Saturday, three buses full of eager Rogers boys and Allard girls ventured to the Duncan Lanes bowling alley for a late night, glow-in-the-dark, bowling adventure! Ms Ostopovich and Ms Acker from Allard well as Mr Thompson and Ms Thompson from Rogers were kind enough to supervise over 100 excited teenagers from 9:30 to midnight. Upon arrival at the lanes, we lined up to get our bowling shoes, and quickly got started on both 5-pin and 10-pin bowling, while the speakers in the building played our favourite songs, and we loudly sang along. The Grade 12 Leadership Team of Rogers/Allard organized bowling, because we thought it  would be a great opportunity not only for students to relax, but also a wonderful bonding opportunity, since Rogers and Allard are brother-sister competitive houses. “It’s still early in the school year, so it was a perfect opportunity for kids to meet people they haven’t met before, and get to know them in such a fun environment” said Joel C, Rogers ‘19. Bonding was the main goal, and by about 10:30 that night, it was evident that goal had been achieved. We had been hearing celebratory cheers from most of the lanes all evening, as kids bowled their first spares of the night, or threw an amazing trick shot, somehow managing to knock all the pins down for a strike. However, the event that was most incredible occurred when arguably one of the most iconic songs came on the loudspeaker: every student in the alley stopped what they were doing, looked at their friends with a fiery look in their eyes, and began to sing. Kids from all corners of the globe, with different cultures, different backgrounds, different first languages, and different music tastes came together in unity, forming one voice, to sing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Road”. As if on cue, when the song ended, pizza arrived at the bowling alley. After fuelling up on approximately 30 pizzas, everyone got back to their lanes to play one last game before it was time to return to Brentwood. Sarah G, Allard ‘21 said “It was by far my favourite bonding event since I’ve been at Brentwood, everybody had such a great time”. We are looking forward to more events like this in the future; it is a great way to spend our SPARE time! Zjaya D, Allard ‘19