Arlington High School’s leadership class’s purpose has always been to bring people together in fun and creative ways after school. There have been events such as Nerd Out, where kids hang out in the commons and play various board and video games, a Talent Show, where students displayed their hidden talents, and other exciting ways that involved the student body outside the classroom.

The latest leadership project is AHS’s first ever LARP-ing competition. For those who are unaware, LARP-ing stands for Live Action Role Play where students dress up as the characters they are portraying in order to bring a fantasy to life.

On Thursday October 30, students gathered in the leadership classroom after school to learn the basics in a class called LARP-ing 101, which was led by a group of leadership students. It was there that students were taught the essential do’s and don’ts of LARP-ing.

“Ballew [our teacher] has wanted to do something like this for a long time but no one in leadership has ever gone through with the project. It’s really fun to be apart of putting it together and seeing our project be executed. I think everyone who shows up to the LARP-ing competition is going to have a really good time. From what I saw at LARP-ing 101, everyone is going to be laughing so hard,” said Senior Jessica Severson who is one of the students involved in planning the LARP-ing project. Along with Severson Seniors Hannah Scarth and Sam Nielson, and Junior Aaron Paloalto are in charge of coordinating the event with the help of Mr. Ballew’s exciting ideas and encouragement.

LARP-ing 101 was just the practice run of the actual LARP-ing Competition coming up on Friday, November 7 after school. About 14 students showed up to learn to LARP and prepare themselves for what Ballew calls “the LARP war”. Kids will be using foam weapons and costumes with medieval music playing to set the ambiance of the fight scene. Two teams of seven will be battling each other to see just who is the best LARP-ing team at AHS.