On January 31, the Student Union hosted Townsend Harris’s annual Winter Carnival, a school-wide event open to families and faculty where clubs, teams, and FON groups hosted fundraisers to spread awareness about their groups and grow membership.
SU President Hellen Oliveira said, “I think this year, to us, means improving upon [last year] and bringing back the legacy of the event. So it’s really about trial and error, and also bringing the community back together since COVID.”
This year’s carnival was the second one since the COVID-19 shutdown.
Coordinator of Student Activities Jaime Baranoff said, “Overall we learned some lessons from last year about the Winter Carnival. I think we’re a little more organized this year. We worked really hard to promote the event so that people, both clubs and people who will attend, would know about it.”
Featured at the event were various activities and treats such as Key Club’s cotton candy station, a Super Smash Bros game stall from the Gaming Club, a $50 raffle prize, and trivia challenges. SU members sold tickets that allowed participants to play games, buy food, and win prizes. Among the many booths, the pie challenge hosted by the Sophomore Grade Leaders emerged as a popular favorite where teachers and students volunteered to get “pied” in support of funding grade activities.
Sophomore Elvis Chan, one of the volunteers in this year’s pie challenge, said, “I very much [enjoyed] it. This [was] the best carnival and [was] better than last year’s.” Elvis said that he got “pied” about 20 times at the event.
“It’s been good. I liked the JSA station because it was pretty cheap and the prizes were good. I won three times,” said freshman Celeste Bagga. “I [also] like cotton candy. I will probably come again next year and bring my friends.”
The Culinary Connections Club reported making twice the amount they fundraised last year, attributing it to their creative Spice Challenge stand.
“For the Winter Carnival, we prepared Spicy Buldak ramen noodles… a lot of people enjoy spicy food and are up for a challenge. Also, we were more prepared about how we [would]clean up, and the stuff we made was easy to prepare,” said Co-President Camille Lin.”
SU Club Liaison Alex Yauri said, “The winter carnival is a special moment where students can have the liberty to have fun and spend time with friends, families, and cousins.”
