Planning for the upper school Pictionary tournament began at the 10CLC, the sophomore Class Leadership Council’s, very first meeting of the school year. After noticing a lack of cross-grade events and participation, 10CLC took the initiative to organize an all upper school Pictionary event, working alongside the other grades Class Leadership Councils and implementing their idea on Nov. 12.

The idea for Pictionary sprouted at their first elected and selected meeting. Members shared ideas and discussed options and everyone picked a couple they decided would be best for a group bonding game. After Dr. Gokhberg, the head advisor for 10CLC, called a meeting with the other grades’ Class Leadership Councils, the following elected and selected time period, everyone settled on Pictionary.

The Class Leadership Councils unanimously agreed upon the game, which sophomore Naomi Mann suggested. Afterward, they all worked together to form a word bank and established rules. “It was a group consensus, everyone agreed. It was me, I had the idea of the Pictionary, but everybody else worked on it together,” Mann said.

The logistics weren’t too difficult and the only things that required planning and coordination were the teams. To encourage cross-grade development, each team consisted of four players: a senior, junior, sophomore and a ninth-grader.

Some people liked it, while others didn’t. Senior Bokii Mullataa thought it was a great way to encourage others to interact with others. He was on a special team with only seniors and ninth-graders. There were some people that Mullataa was already acquainted with, but meeting new people was just as fun. In his group were some members from his advisory and a ninth-grader, Seamus Sullivan. Besides just members in his own team, the other competing teams also made an impact. Ninth-grader Ferran Peckosh from an opposing team earned a shoutout from Mullataa for his creative designs: “His word was Great Wall of China, so he drew the Great Wall, then he drew a bowl of ramen,” Mullataa said.

The winners of the tournament, as tallied by each advisor, would ultimately play each other onstage in Huss Center for the Performing Arts. Mann thought that this consequence would be daunting for most players and might slightly discourage participation. That outlook was thought to be a fun level of pressure that made the matches more intense.