On December 13, the third annual Season’s Readings event was accompanied by an after-school holiday market. Running for an hour and a half after the school day’s reading festivities aimed at welcoming the holiday season, the holiday market featured stands from various FON groups such as Bengali, Brazilian, Greek, and Tibetan FON, as well as from clubs and teams like Culinary Connections 520, Sophomore Grade Leaders, GSA, and Robotics.
Classic advisor and English teacher Brian Sweeney organized the event. He told The Classic that he wanted to organize an event similar to the Witching Hour held in October in celebration of the Halloween season. “For the December holidays, we figured that there was a nice coincidence that FON kickoff happens right at the start of December, and a big part of the holidays is celebrating lots of different traditions, so we thought why not connect them?” said Mr. Sweeney. Upon proposing the idea to Ellen Fee, assistant principal and advisor for FON, they agreed that a holiday market would be a good opportunity for FON leaders to raise money for the various expenses of their shows.
Similar to the cultural reading packets showcased during the school day, the menu items for the holiday market were proposed by FON leaders themselves, in response to an email from Mr. Sweeney about fundraising at the event.
The event’s success relied on planning from participating club and FON leaders. Senior and Filipino FON leader Adriana Vargas reflected that preparation for the market involved much communication with her other leaders. In deciding which foods to showcase at their stand, she said, “we picked some of the more popular foods from our culture, and we figured that that’s what most people would have liked to have bought.” Some such as Filipino spaghetti and lumpia were home-cooked by Filipino FON leaders, and other sweets and desserts were store bought.
Leaders of Culinary Connections 520 followed a similar process to prepare for the market; “we used past years’ menus to see what people really bought,” said junior and Co-President of the club Elvis Chan. By measuring inventory before and after previous bake sales and fundraisers, they were able to determine which items people were most likely to buy. Outside of raising funds for ingredients and materials, he said, “we really wanted to provide more publicity to the Culinary Club, since it’s a unique club to have in the school.”
Junior and Brazilian FON leader Rachel Munarov showcased foods that were also largely determined based on popularity, though some were from personal favorites that she and her FON leaders wanted to share with the school community. “We all baked everything and cooked everything from scratch,” she said. Additionally, in reflecting on her favorite part of the holiday market, Rachel said, “I like how there’s so many people willing to try different kinds of foods from different cultures.”
Ultimately, the goal of the holiday market was not only to come together in a school-wide holiday gathering, but also to introduce the school community to the cultures of various FON groups. “This helps make sure FON is something that extends beyond the dance performance itself,” said Mr. Sweeney. “Now, by the time curtains open on the show, students will have been introduced to the FONs through their food, storytelling, art, and poetry. […] I do think that it’s a really nice thing to see people’s cultures represented through food, especially at the holidays.”
