Valentine’s Day this year was on a Monday. To celebrate the holiday, Northwood High School was able to organize several activities to allow everyone to enjoy the day.
One of the activities organized for the students was the winter dance. English Teacher Nikki Cox chaperoned the dance.
“It was a good way to spread holiday cheer and have some Charger fun!” Cox said in an email. “I absolutely think the dance was a success. I was glad to see that students from all grade levels attended and that so many students took the opportunity to dress up and have fun with it. We had about 200 people attend, which I thought was great!”
The winter dance was more specifically a Valentine’s-themed Dance with the gym decked out in Valentine’s Day decor.
“The decorations were a lovely touch to bring the holiday into the event,” Cox said. “It was nice to see so many couples attend, both as partners in a relationship and as friends Spending time with your loved ones is what the holiday is about, and I think that our students took that to heart!”
The week before Valentine’s Day, two clubs–Key Club and Student Council–set up tables outside the cafeteria with flowers and sweets for sale. Students could buy a flower or piece of candy for a friend at school that would be distributed to them on Valentine’s Day during Plus One.
“The candy grams were a way for students to show feelings of love or appreciation for their friends, teachers, or partners.” senior and Key Club co-President Tessa Barni said. ” I would say that this project was a success; in the end, we sold over 150 grams! All the money we raised will be donated to the American Heart Association of North Carolina. I hope everyone was excited to receive their candy grams- it’s always a nice surprise to be given a nice note or candy, especially on a holiday like Valentine’s Day.”
“I feel the flowers [sold by Student Council] are important for Valentine’s Day because everyone likes receiving something beautiful to show that someone’s thinking about them,” senior and Student Body Vice President Lindsey Torres said. “Or, some people may want to receive flowers but might not want to ask. Giving someone flowers on Valentine’s Day is something small you can do to show someone you love and appreciate them!”
On Valentine’s Day, the Student Council sponsored a movie-watching event for juniors to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
“We chose 10 Things I Hate About You after doing a poll on the Junior Student Council Instagram,” junior Officer of Class Involvement Lily Kate Witcher said. “We knew we wanted to show a rom-com in recognition of Valentine’s Day, so we made the two options Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You. 10 Things I Hate About You ended up just barely winning, so that’s what we decided to show.
“Unfortunately, we did not have a great turnout for this event, but even with small numbers, I still enjoyed the night,” Witcher said. “I had never seen the film, so it was fun to watch it with a few friends there. I would like for the Student Council to do another movie night soon, but hopefully next time we can do a better job advertising and get more people to participate. One of our goals this year as Student Council is to really get people involved, so we’re always looking for ways to improve on that.
For Witcher “the movie was meant to be a nod to Valentine’s Day. We wanted people to be able to celebrate the holiday with either a date or just their friends. To me, there’s nothing that says Valentine’s Day like spending time with the people you love, and watching a romantic movie is a great way to do that.”
The activities at Northwood on Valentine’s Day allowed students to both enjoy the holiday and send gifts to their friends and staff.
“I think It’s good that the school does activities that the students can participate in, because it makes it more fun, makes school more fun…I like participating in the different activities the school makes available to us,” junior Lucy Mangum said.
