Numerous clubs collaborated in planning and executing various events for the Fall Festival including a haunted house, jack-o-lantern-making stations, and a D$Q performance, among others. The highly-anticipated event was held on Nov. 1 on the green top for middle and high school students to enjoy.
“The HSSC students have done a really good job at getting a lot of different clubs together to make the Fall Festival a great event,” Megan Mannell, HSSC advisor, said. “Over the last couple of years, they have worked hard to think about what different students want to do and brought together a lot of interests, so I think that is part of why the festival is so popular.”
The collaboration amongst clubs allowed for a wide range of activities for students. The clubs that contributed to the festival included HSSC, which organized raffle tickets and club booths; CSC, which offered a lucky draw, palm readings, and a dalgona challenge; Helping North Korean Refugees (HNKR) and Random Acts of Kindness (RAK), which both sold food such as Gongcha, pizza, donuts, and more; Habitat for Humanity (HFH), which created the haunted house; D$Q, which performed K-pop dances; and Korea Animal Service Association (KASA), which ran a pumpkin carving station.
“The hardest part of planning the event was that I had to plan two different stations,” Woosung Choi (11), HSSC and KASA member, said. “I had to plan an apple toss and a pumpkin carving station, and they both required me to plan and buy a lot of stuff, but I think it was worth it because it was fun. We decided to make the pumpkin carving station free because we wanted to make having fun a priority over fundraising.”
The widely-anticipated haunted house underwent many changes compared to previous years. Most notably, it required an entrance fee of ₩4,000 for four people. As the entrance fee was free last year, some students expressed disapproval. Despite the criticism, this fee was beneficial in providing opportunities for clubs to participate in fundraisers, an initiative that HSSC has worked to implement into school events. More popular this year were other activities, notably palm readings, which Angela Campbell, the AP Chemistry teacher, conducted.
“I got my palm read by the palace palm reader, and I have been reading palms for 28 years,” Ms. Campbell said. “I think it is very fun to interact with students, especially if I do not know the kid very well, it is fun at the end when they say, ‘Actually, that’s pretty accurate.’”
Besides the changes made to the haunted house, the introduction of other unique events differentiated this year’s fall festival from previous years. This led to more booths and a wider variety of potential activities for students to participate in.
“I think one thing that was a big improvement this year was that the students did a much better job at planning out the events,” Ms. Mannell said. “There were different booths and a lot of cool stuff happening, like the pumpkin carving and pickleball. Last year, we did not have quite as many events, so I think that was quite a big improvement.”
Despite some changes bringing negative criticism, the Fall Festival allowed students to participate in unique activities with their friends, many of which were widely enjoyed and successful.
