Northwest Academy Gets Festive

From prom fundraisers to school-wide parties, Northwest Academy has established many holiday traditions of its own.

Students will be seen studying under the twinkling lights in the main building.

“I particularly like it when the high school students decorate the main building,” Lainie Ettinger, Director of Admissions and Marketing, said. “Lights go up in the rafters, last year there was a tree.”

Jared Kerman, a junior, breaks out his Santa hat every year.

“I love Christmastime and I love the hat,” Kerman said. “Honestly, I would wear it all year if I could. I think the design is great! I don’t know about any tradition, but if me wearing the Santa hat is spreading holiday cheer, then I’m down!”

But clothing isn’t the only way that students will be getting festive this year. As a fundraiser for prom, seniors have decided to have a candy-gram service where friends can send each other candy canes with a note for a small price. The treat will even be delivered by a senior dressed Santa and Chloë Mathis as an elf who will sing holiday songs.

“Rumor has it that Santa is going to be handing out the candy canes,” Aaron Hollomon, a senior, said. “Rumor also has it that it might be me, so watch out.”

Besides sending candy canes to their friends, in recent years, high school students have been running secret Santas in their respective grades.

While many students love Northwest Academy holiday traditions, others wish to see more diversity in the celebrations.

“There are a lot of Jewish kids here and it would be cool to see some celebrations that are based in the celebration of Hanukkah,” Elayna Caron, a senior, said.

However, the Northwest Academy holiday party is for those of all religions.

“There have been years where there was a conscious effort to have different cultures represented with things like Hanukkah songs,” Ettinger said. “As someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I always appreciate it when there’s thought given to other types of holidays, but at the same time I think the emphasis is really just on being festive for the holidays and I’ve always thought that we do a good job on that.”

The Northwest Academy holiday party is an all-school event with music, dance, food, student art and teacher vendors.

“The holiday party is one of my favorite school events of the year,” Ian Cummings, a senior, said. “It’s a fun tradition. It’s great to walk into different rooms and see the various ways in which our student body expresses themselves. At the holiday party you can see how cohesive our school is.”

In the past the holiday party was mainly used to raise money for the annual fund, but now the focus has shifted to bringing students and their families together.

“It’s always great to see the students perform,” Ettinger said. “In the past few years Wade [Willis] has gotten them all together for a big finale and that’s really fun to see.”

This year’s holiday party will take place on Friday December 19th from 7 P.M. -8:30 P.M. Check the eNews for more details to come.