Gallery • 5 Photos

Junior Alex Quinn hugs his girlfriend junior Claire Macek during Muckfest on Sept. 4 at Shawnee Mission Park. Students from all of the SM high schools gathered together to be a part of the kickstart event for the organization Young Life.

In the seconds before the horn blast sounded on Sept. 4 in Shawnee Mission Park, students picked their victims and jockeyed for position. What started with nearly 500 relatively clean students from the five Shawnee Mission high schools ended in muck.

Muckfest is sponsored by Young Life, a Christian organization that reaches out to high school students. The event, which is held annually after the first Young Life meeting of the year,  is designed to generate interest in the organization.

After students smiled for pictures, with shaving cream in their hair and mud on their faces, the students piled in their cars and left the park.

“Muckfest was the best thing thing and will definitely be something I will not forget,” senior Sam Arnold said. “Did you see my truck bed?”

Arnold had filled his truck bed with water and placed a tarp on the bottom. After the event was over, many students went to Arnold’s truck to relax and clean off.

“There were like 15 people in the back of his truck,” senior Joshua Van Auken said. “I thought the back of his truck was going to sink into his tires, but it was so worth it.”