Recently the Seniors at MHS participated in a courageous and tiring competition at the school, Senior Survivor. Senior Survivor is a one week competition that consists of Senior duo teams that compete in various challenges all through the day and night to raise money for their selected charity.
This year, 6 teams participated. Coming in 4th place was Team Red, Aubrey Bender and Ty Cozad.
Most of the teams hold the same reasoning as to why they wanted to be in the challenge. Ty Cozad explained it simply by saying “I just wanted to be involved this year, so I thought that this competition was really something that gets you that experience.”
The food challenges were the most difficult for the survivors, while the dance challenge was the most enjoyable.
Aubrey and Ty chose to support the ALS Association, specifically the Iowa City Chapter. Aubrey shared her personal connection to the cause.
“We chose this charity because it’s close to my heart. A family friend recently passed away from ALS, so the cause is very personal to me. It meant a lot to be able to contribute to something that really meant something to me,” said Aubrey.
A lot of Senior Survivor teams shared that this experience was something they will never forget. Ty didn’t exactly have a sentimental takeaway.
“You can function on three hours of sleep,” said Ty.
On the other hand, there were some unexpected challenges that team faced during their time together.
Aubrey said, “I was surprised by how well we all got along, but there were many hard parts throughout the week. It was great that the good outweighed the bad.”
The Seniors have the opportunity to choose their partners, but having to spend an entire week with your partner can be difficult.
“I asked Ty to be my partner because I’ve known him for a while and he’s athletic. He gets quiet when he is hungry so I knew he wouldn’t talk a lot and annoy me,” said Aubrey.
Staying inside of the school for an extended amount of time can be very exhausting, and an especially hard aspect is having to be away from home.
“I missed my cats a lot, the separation anxiety was bad,” said Aubrey.
What Ty missed most was the aspect of “freedom”.
“I never want to step foot in the library again,” said Ty.
But the two teammates had something that helped them through this.
“Each other. When we woke up in the morning and we weren’t allowed to go back to bed, we would have an hour just to sit there and do nothing. We would talk to each other to keep one another awake. This really brought all of the teams closer together. Plus now we have so many inside jokes,” said Aubrey.
Find out who you think the best team was by reading the other Senior Survivor stories on our website!
