Miscellaneous

Paintball Prom

Hey Everyone!

     This year, we only have two graduating seniors at our school. This is because our school is still growing :) Anyway, the two seniors are both boys, and neither one really fancied the idea of having a formal dance for their end of year prom. Since there's only two of them, they came to an agreement and decided to substitute prom for paintball. The entire high school was invited, including us IB Survivalists.

     Personally, I have never been to paintball before. I was unsure of what to expect. Would it hurt to get shot? What do I wear? Does the paint come out of my clothes? What are the rules? Is it hard to operate the paint gun? I am still no professional after one round of paintball, but what I can tell you is that it is tons of fun!! I showed up in black jeans and a loose black hoodie. Wearing loose clothes will help absorb the shot of a paintball and make it less painful. Once we arrived on location, we were briefed on the safety measures to take and what equipment we are required to wear. Everyone was required to wear this mask during game play:

     We also learned how to operate the gun. It was pretty simple - just release the safety and shoot! The gun was a little on the heavy and awkward side, which made it difficult to run with. The rules of the game of paintball varied depending on the game you were playing. For example, we played a tournament first. If you got hit once, you were out. The team with the most people left standing won! I got hit by a paintball almost 30 seconds after the game started. I remember it stinging pretty badly for 2 seconds, but after that the pain went away. It was extremely thrilling! In my opinion, the pain is 100% tolerable, but there were other people there who simply couldn't handle it. To each his own, I guess. 

     For all of you worrying about the paintball staining your clothes - don't worry. Most paint balls have a fish oil base which makes it pretty easy to wash out of your clothes. I  recommend you to go play paintball if you have a chance - it's truly an incredible experience that you can't experience in other places!

- Sophie F.