BRIGHTON — Students, parents, siblings, teachers and community friends teamed up Nov. 21 for a day of friendly competition during Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School’s annual Survivor Day held at the Brighton Gym.

Survivor Day, now in its eighth year, originally celebrated students “surviving” mandated state testing. Now, it allows students, teachers and family to come together for a day of fun.

Teams competed in 10 events: launch and catch, wheelbarrow race, partner situps, football throw, tire jump, broad jump, mighty miles lap, cardio Frisbee, backward bowling and bones puzzle.

“We change [events] every year,” said PECS P.E. teacher Pam Matthews. “We just sit down as a group of P.E. teachers and talk and throw out ideas and then we build on each other’s ideas.”

Teams worked to achieve the highest score or fastest time in the various contests for a chance to compete in the finals and become the ultimate survivors.

“There is competition but it is mostly for fun,” said principal Brian Greseth. “There are some that are very competitive and they want to win, but most of them like the competitive edge but if they don’t win, it’s no big deal. It’s a good time and that’s the main thing.”

P.E. teachers encourage teams to create team T-shirts. Some teams sported basic shirts adorned with their team name, while some went all out with capes, sparkles and even tutus.

“I’m always impressed when I say make a team T-shirt,” Matthews said. “It just amazes me what some of these teams, parents or even the kids come up with. I love it. They are really cute.”

After all teams completed the 10-event agenda, the top scorers from each contest competed in an obstacle course to determine the No. 1 survivor team. In the end, Team Luke – comprised of Richard Harris and Lucas Osceola – came out victorious by completing the course in 51 seconds.

“All schools always try to have good bonding experiences between the community and the school,” Greseth said. “We want parents to see our staff and see our students as they really are: great kids, hard-working kids who can have fun together.”