0
0
Is this the end of the Powderpuff era?
By: Madison Winters & Morgan Sturmer
Powderpuff Football has been a tradition at Dexter High School passed down by senior classes. The junior and senior girls compete in flag football coached by our very own DHS football players. The short season begins with late-night practices at the twin turfs and ends with a game under the lights at Al Ritt. However, this year, the twin turfs laid quiet, dark, and empty with an absence of Powderpuff practices. Why has this tradition been ignored this year? Who should have set it up? What happened? When sending out the Squall’s survey only 42% of juniors and seniors reported that they noticed that there was no Powderpuff this year, leading us to wonder if this was part of the reason Powderpuff was swept under the rug this season.
Last year, and likely past years, seniors took the initiative to set up the game and practices. “The student section leaders have planned Powderpuff for the last few years,” claims DHS principal Melanie Nowak. “In previous years, Powderpuff was organized by individual students,” DHS Math Teacher and advisor of student council Mr. Snider said. Those students section leaders and individual students are seniors. Last year, senior Wyatt Novara decided to set up the event. “I was aware from the year before when Sydney Pnacek organized the Powderpuff game, and I decided to take the initiative in setting it up and planning it out as one of the seniors,” he said.
This leads us to wonder, where did the miscommunication happen? “None of the student section leaders were aware that powderpuff was one of our respon sibilities,” student section leader and DHS senior Grace Mendez said. She even went on to say, “There have been several
other things that the student section leaders were not aware [of].” This left student section leaders “talk[ing] a lot about it and we weren’t sure where to go” student section leader and DHS senior Lana Burns said. “To date, student section leaders have not contacted Bav or I about an event,” Ms. Nowak said.
The waiting game left admin and students pointing fingers and waiting for someone else to take the initiative to get Powderpuff going this year. It seems that powderpuff may turn into another lost tradition due to COVID-19’s lasting impact. Due to the lack of communication between the class of ‘23 and the class of ‘24 will this tradition forever be lost?
Student section leaders don’t seem to be happy about the way this has played out. “Huge missed opportunity by admin,” student section leader and DHS senior Maria Demerell said. “I am kind of disappointed that Ms. Nowak fell back on our group saying we didn’t plan it when we weren’t even aware,” Lana Burns expressed.
An idea that may pop into many’s heads is for the game to be played this spring, so that the seniors can live on the tradition and win a Powderpuff game. Unfortunately, when interviewing students in the Squall survey, 59% of junior and senior girls said that they would not play Powderpuff if there was a spring game. Having a Powderpuff game in the spring would be challenging, not saying it can’t be pulled off. “There might be less people signing up because of all the spring sports,” student section leader and DHS senior Mallory Brandt said. Others seem to agree with this. “I don’t think it will be easy to have powderpuff in the spring due to new sports starting up and other conflicts,” Maria Demerell also added. However, there are some conflicting opinions regarding a game in the spring. “I would definitely still play in the spring,” junior Sophia Dettling expressed. “I was really looking forward to it ever since my freshman year when I found out this year, it wasn’t going to happen. I was actually so mad. I went and played football in my backyard,” she added.
Many traditions are passed down from senior class to senior class only by word of mouth. It seems that Powderpuff is another one of those traditions. Our message to all future senior classes is to take initiative. Be the one to set it up and don’t play the waiting game; That results in it not happening at all which is a loss for both juniors and seniors alike.
