Every spring, South holds their annual color wars. Saxons dress in their class color: freshmen in green, sophomores in yellow, juniors in blue, and seniors in red. The color wars assembly is filled with multiple contests that, by the end of the assembly, determine which class is the winner.

The science teachers of South hold a contest to test how loud each class can by measuring the actual decibels of the screams and sounds each class makes. Although the juniors won the sound contest, the seniors were able to win color wars through the series of games that followed, which included activities such as handing off fruits with your feet and a dance battle to the hit song, “ Old Town Road”  by Lil Nas.

Kathy August, the leadership director, actually started the famous color wars assembly when she arrived at South Salem in 2005.

“I brought the tradition from a school I taught at in California,” August said.

Each year, August’s leadership students help make posters and t-shirt designs that are put on colored shirts and sold. This year, Aiden Ayres ‘22 decided to take initiative and step up to make the freshmen shirts.

“I’m hoping to run for class president next year so I want to get as involved a possible,” Ayres said.

Ayres sought out the help of David Pluister, South’s graphics and art teacher. They came up with designs but it was not easy getting the final products.

“It was hard narrowing down the design just because we wanted them to be not too costly so everyone could get one,” Ayres said. The freshmen shirts sold for $10.

Stuart Heringer ‘21 was in charge of making the sophomore shirts. Heringer came up with the shirts for his class last year as well.

“The whole process is really fun so that’s why I wanted to do this again,” Heringer said. Along with making the designs, students have to figure out how they can actually make their shirts.

“I came up with some ideas and sent them to a screenprinting company to get some feedback. We ended up coming out with an entirely new idea,” Heringer said. The sophomore shirts also sold for $10.

Kiara Cortes-Antonino ‘21 was sceptical that her class was going to win this years color wars.

“The juniors and seniors were a bit more hyped up to win,” Cortes-Antonino said.

Preston Rutter ‘20 on the other hand was very confident that the juniors were going to take the win from the seniors.

“We were better than any other class” Rutter said.

While other classes hope they take the win next year, Saxon seniors are proud of their win as they prepare to leave South soon.

“I got to reflect on each year I’ve been at south,” Yvette Mendez ‘19 said “It felt like a final step to being a Saxon.”

Although every class was competing against each other, color wars is how Saxons come together. “The interactive parts of the assembly, like the chants, is what makes us all feel still unified,” Isaac Cotlar ‘21 said.