As a well-earned hurrah to Speech and Debate’s busy calendar, having attended the University of Chicago Model United Nations and a Junior State of America Fall State conference, the team spent their Tuesday night at Irvine Lanes — a mandatory bowling event. Each member might’ve been forced into having fun, but that was hardly the case by the time the games began.

Upon entering, several members hung long frowns when realizing they were being assigned to their pods. As the night progressed, the randomized groups proved to foster great conversation between members of all grades. In most other situations, an academic team so large does not allow for close friendships to expand upon themselves. The minute groups began creating their personal usernames with ridiculous nicknames, rookie bowlers began throwing wild throws into the gutter, and loads of pizza came to the table —there was nothing that would stop the night’s excitement.

Seventh-grader Isaac won all three rounds of the game, while in the next pod, a lucky player scored a strike. Across from the room, Sarina Saber jokingly sent messages from the app feature to say hello to her friends in lane 22. Apart from mostly awful performances by successful bowling techniques, everyone found a way to have fun. Whether the ball was thrown in “granny style” with both hands used to thrust the ball from a squat or Beyonce Zhou and her group was being dominated by Samar Multani, it was about time these hard-working individuals went out to have fun.

“I don’t usually talk very much to anyone in this group, so I am glad this turned out to be something we finally got to bond over. If we had never done it, I would’ve questioned our position as a team,” says sophomore Sophia Berzonetti. Though the idea might seem cheesy, it was the only right way to do it. By bowling under disco lights and dated 2000s geometric interior design, Speech and Debate’s members could proudly waddle out of their strictly business-like ways to serve their purpose of enjoying the night as kids.