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Upper school community enjoys holiday-themed activities in first ever Winterfest
Anish Jain (10) hugs Justin Chao (10) under a flurry of fake snow during Winterfest on Nov. 29. A snow machine showered the outside of Manzanita with fake snow, while HSLT members offered hot chocolate to the upper school community and HSLT co-adviser and Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier hosted a holiday-themed karaoke, inviting students and teachers to sing along to holiday tunes.
December 9, 2021
Over 80 students and faculty participated in gingerbread house decorating, tree decorating and karaoke during the first ever Winterfest, hosted by the Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) and Student Activities Board (SAB) outside Manzanita on Nov. 29.
While these spirit competitions have been held in past years, HSLT decided to tie together the entire series of events with the name Winterfest this year for the first time.
“HSLT has always been trying to expand and do new things especially now that we’re back in person,” HSLT president Alysa Suleiman (12) said. “Going along with this whole theme of bringing cheer and unity to the upper school, Winterfest was a collective idea to bring holiday spirit to campus. Especially nearing finals, we wanted to give everyone a break and welcome everyone back from Thanksgiving break.”
During lunch, students and teachers built and decorated gingerbread houses using materials purchased by SAB representatives, with the four classes competing for spirit points in the gingerbread house decorating contest. The juniors took first, followed by the sophomores in second, the seniors in third and the freshmen in fourth, while the teachers’ gingerbread house was not judged.
The after school portion of the event occurred from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. A snow machine showered the outside of Manzanita with fake snow, while HSLT members offered hot chocolate to the upper school community and HSLT co-adviser and Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier hosted a holiday-themed karaoke, inviting students and teachers to sing along to holiday tunes. Students also adorned their class tree with ornaments, ribbon and other decorations for the tree decorating contest held throughout the week. HSLT decided to postpone the holiday movie showing due to lack of participation.
“[My favorite part of Winterfest] was the fake snow,” HSLT community events committee member Anish Jain (10) said. “It really felt like snow, and it felt like it was actually winter, so that was cool.”
Students also helped paint their class’s window pane in the back of Manzanita for the annual window painting class contest. Throughout the week, students from each class continued to participate in tree decorating and window painting.
“Winterfest was very fun,” SAB representative Harshini Chaturvedula (10) said. “There was actual singing, and there was really fun singing where people were voice cracking, and overall it was a very nice vibe. I think a lot of people enjoyed that atmosphere.”
Teresa Cai (12), who participated in Winterfest, appreciates collaborating and competing with fellow students through spirit in person again.
“It’s so much more fun [than] online spirit,” Teresa said. “Having people right there next to you physically and seeing people work together on something, whether that’s the window painting or the gingerbread house, it’s a lot more fun and engaging. You feel like you’re making friends, you’re getting to know the people in your grade more.”
Planning for Winterfest began a few weeks before Thanksgiving break. The HSLT community events committee organized the community-based events such as karaoke, which was modeled after the successful karaoke booth during Spirit Night; the HSLT competitive events committee organized the spirit competitions, and SAB representatives from each class encouraged their respective classes to participate in the competitions.
“We try to keep the morale up and get everyone into the festive spirit,” Anish said. “It’s probably the best event in the year in terms of spirit because the winter vibe in general is just really nice.”
Alysa reflects on her joy in bringing together the upper school community through Winterfest and other spirit activities.
“Sometimes when you’re doing so much planning for HSLT, you forget what it feels like to be someone part of the crowd who’s enjoying it,” Alysa said. “When you see those people and join them together, it’s a really special feeling being able to see everyone enjoy themselves and have that smile on their faces even though there’s so many changes going on. That’s the whole point of spirit: to give people a break [and] to be together.”
In the future, HSLT plans on making Winterfest an annual event that takes place after Thanksgiving break while incorporating more diverse competitive events that do not necessarily require artistic ability.
