Reed Intermediate School's fifth and sixth grade clusters are divided into a "blue house" and a "green house," and for the school's first ever "Color Wars" weeklong event, the students in the houses faced off by earning points for activities, games, and good deeds. A grand finale event was held the evening of May 4, when the green house and blue house students competed for the most points.

Debbie DeBlasi and Jennifer Chaudhary co-chaired the event for the school's PTA. According to Ms DeBlasi, the Color Wars came together after Reed Principal Anne Uberti began looking for a annual signature event for her school. Different challenges were held each day. On Monday, April 30, homerooms were given materials and challenged to decorate their class's door. Blue clusters were given blue materials and green clusters were given green materials.

Tuesday was trivia day, when three students were selected from each homeroom to participate in a test in the cafeteria during morning announcements. The test asked questions about math, science, geography, current events, sports, and a few bonus categories, according to Ms DeBlasi. For every correct answer, the students earned a point for their house.

On Wednesday, teams earned points for writing "kindness notes" for other students. Then on Thursday, students were challenged to build towers with materials given to each cluster. Finally, Friday was spirit day, when students and teachers dressed up to earn points for showing their blue or green spirit.

Throughout the week, donations for FAITH Food Pantry were collected. By the end of the week, according to Ms DeBlasi, three SUVs full of donations were delivered to the local food pantry.

"This week was about fun, friendship, teamwork, kindness, and, of course, a little friendly competition," said Ms DeBlasi in an e-mail after the grand finale event. "The students and teachers really seemed to enjoy it, and the Friday grand finale had about 200 attendees. Everyone really seemed to have a great time."

Like students and other parents attending, Ms DeBlasi and Ms Chaudhary were dressed for the grand finale, with Ms DeBlasi wearing blue and Ms Chaudhary wearing green, from head to toe.

For the finale, stations were set up in the school's gymnasium and cafeteria. Students worked in teams to rotate through the different stations. Stations included a Potato Pass, a Ben's Bells Kindness Coin painting table, a scooter relay, an "Oreo Gobble" station, a "Pie Face" station, and a bean bag toss. At a Pictionary Station, students worked in teams to draw images as their team members guessed.

Throughout the grand finale, Reed staff members participated at the "Pie Face" station, where students took turns throwing pie plates filled with whipped cream in their faces. Ms Uberti and Assistant Principal Jill Bontatibus-Beaudry both took turns having pies thrown at them. The event was free, but pies sold for $1 per throw to raise money to fund a Ben's Bells mural for the school. Color Wars attire and accessories were also sold to cover the costs for the event.

Ms DeBlasi said Ben's Bells supplied Kindness Coins for the students to paint at the Kindness Coin station, and Big Y World Class Market and Caraluzzi's Market supplied brown paper bags, used for both an activity and to carry the FAITH Food Pantry donations.