High Five Friday

Leeann Helgevold and Allison Furman of the Women’s Bowling team give a kid from the middle school high fives. Photo by Jenna Quina

By: Jarod McKee

High Five Friday has swept across Iowa over the past two months with athletes from multiple colleges visiting local elementary and middle schools on Friday mornings. They line the halls before school to give the kids high fives. As of November 2, Waldorf University became the newest college to hop on this trend.

Kristi Osheim (Director of Athletic Operations) discovered the phenomenon on Facebook and brought the idea to Jenna Quina (Athletic Office Assistant). “We wanted to go out to the school and do a cool thing for the community,” said Quina. “We also thought it would be a good way to promote homecoming.”

The Waldorf Warrior football, cheerleading, men’s and women’s cross country and track, softball, women’s soccer, women’s basketball, hockey, and men’s and women’s bowling teams were all involved in reading to the elementary and middle school students. The athletes arrived at 7:45 a.m. and stayed until 8:50 a.m. “It was nice to see the kids enjoy it,” said Zach Throne, center for the Waldorf football team. “You could clearly tell that some of the kids were shy or a little nervous about what was going on, but that’s to be expected. I personally had a fun time doing this, plus it’s very good for the community.”

Waldorf’s volleyball team and men’s basketball team were traveling to scheduled games on the day of the event, but that didn’t stop them from connecting with Forest City students. Instead, on the Wednesday prior the two teams ate lunch with the elementary students.

“I was very proud of the outcome of the event. We had around 75 total athletes participate in ‘High Five Friday’ and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. We are definitely planning on doing a couple more of these events next semester,” said Quina.