CAMBRIDGE — At the beginning of a new school year, students are not the only ones who are excited. The entire staff at Cambridge-South Dorchester High School participated in their 1st Annual Amazing Race on Aug. 22 as a team-building activity. Over 60 staff participated in the event which was held at “The Jungle,” on Egypt Road, where traditionally the school’s Cross Country Team races.

Winning Team Da V Unit: Overall Winners of the Amazing Race: (Back row/from left) John Shaw, Talibah Chickwendu, Dan Dobronz, Dan Catron. Dorchester County.

Staff members were divided into teams of 8 – 10 and had to race around the course completing five different tasks. They were also given five different road blocks, which they had to work together to solve before they could move on to the next task. Staff members felt apprehensive, nervous, excited, and enthusiastic about the event, mainly because the tasks were top secret until race time began at 2 p.m.

Teams were encouraged to create a team uniform and display school spirit and sportsmanship. As staff member, Shelly Brohawn summed up her experience so eloquently, “I must say that I was very hesitant and a bit scared of participating in the Amazing Race experience. I was not real confident; however, I was determined to try and do my best. I am so glad I participated; I enjoyed meeting the members of my team and actually surprised myself at how well I felt I did.” Her team, “Da’ V Unit” actually ended up as overall winners of the Amazing Race!

Above: Team Chaos members cheering on other teams.

While some tasks were challenging and fun, all were centered on building relationships and collaboration. Two of the challenging activities were kayaking around the pond to locate 3 hidden puzzle pieces and racing through the jungle to find a bag of blindfolds with each member of the team having to blindfold themselves and follow their captain back to the judges’ table.

Moe Weimer, English teacher was enthusiastic about the day and said, “the Amazing Race really set a positive tone for the upcoming school year and was a lot of fun for our staff.” Linda Mullen, Science teacher summed up her experience, “I thought it was fun and was proud of my team because we stuck together even when times were tough”!

Even though most participants appeared at the judges’ stand after the event exhausted and in soiled uniforms, everyone had a smile and were praising Principal Dave Bromwell, and Assistant Principals Patricia Prosser, Jerome Stover, and Michele Ruark for organizing the event.