Winterfest invited students to chill before finals with holiday festivities from karaoke to cookie decorating at Manzanita Hall on Friday.
A fake snow machine sprayed students as they participated in the Winterfest activities like making slime or ornaments outside Manzanita. Holiday music played from a loudspeaker, and students and faculty participated in winter caroling.
Harker Spirit Leadership Team Community Events lead Robinson Xiang (11) remarked on the successes of Winterfest while also acknowledging the improvements HSLT could make for next year.
“I think the event was a success for all the students who participated, especially with new activities like the slime, cookie decorations, and the movie,” Robinson said. “But, we could have promoted the event better to get more people to experience the fun.”
Karaoke performances included those of chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine to “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling while he cosplayed as the character and yearbook advisor Kevin Oliver to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. Students Adrian Roufas (10) and Brady Tse (11) sang a duet to “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra.
Director of Learning, Innovation and Design Diane Main performed a rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey.
“Although I sucked in some snowflakes, I had lots of fun performing my song,” Main said. “I thought it was great that there were so many students there spending time with their friends, taking time off from studying for finals and classes.”
Many event goers spectated the pieing of the Associated Student Body team, the reward for donating more than 2000 pairs of socks for the holiday sock drive. Attendees entered their names into a raffle for the chance to pie the ASB officers. Aidan Wang (12) pied Alicia Ran (12) first and Rushil Jaiswal (12) pied Jia Jia Jiang (12) for the finale.
Students sipped hot cocoa, enjoyed pizza, or decorated cookies and gingerbread men with colorful frosting inside Manzanita. Attendees also watched the movie “Elf,” which was voted on by the student body in a previous school meeting.
HSLT spent the weeks prior planning the events for that afternoon. They emphasize creating events like Winterfest to help bring the community together during stressful times before finals and college applications.
“We reused a lot of the popular activities from last year,” said Robinson. “After Homecoming, we began assigning tasks and started sticking up decorations around Manzanita. The most important part of the whole process was visualizing the grand result, picturing ourselves at the event and seeing how it would feel for people there.”
During Winterfest, all classes finished up their hallway decorations for Deck the Hallways, a new spirit competition organized by HSLT. Students passed through the front of Manzanita, where the seniors adorned the walkway with snowmen and gingerbread men representing all the members of their class.
HSLT organized Winterfest to encourage students to take a break from studying to participate in relaxing activities with their friends. Community Events member Megha Unny (10) hopes that HSLT’s logistical planning will create a festive experience for students and faculty alike to enjoy.
“It gives Harker students a time to let go and bond as a class because usually we don’t like, talk to everyone in our grade on a daily basis,” Megha said. “It’s also nice to have a time for us to chill, especially when finals are coming up. People need relaxation, and karaoke and snacks and movie night is a very good way to do that.”