![Reaching out. Christopher Lesh, student at Central Catholic High School, serves ice cream during the event on March 2, 2025, at the Portland waterfront. Central Catholic was just one of the schools that sent student volunteers out to cook, prepare, dish, and serve food. Interact club’s co-president Rachel Gerber, junior, plated the food during the event. “I like how direct the contact is,” Gerber said. “You’re there [and] you’re just doing something good. It’s simple, it’s easy, you can feel good about it.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/interact-1-edited-1200x744.jpg)
![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 2 of our news magazine the Amplifier.
During the last two weeks of school before winter break, some students may have experienced high levels of stress. In order to unite the school one more time before leaving for break, the Associated Student Body (ASB) decided to celebrate Winterfest.
To plan Winterfest, everyone on ASB had to work together. ASB’s Club’s Commissioner, Cadence Cox, junior, has been on ASB for two years.
Winterfest consisted of different activities put on by clubs. During lunch, clubs had the opportunity to hand out food or host an activity
“Winterfest is a fun time before we leave for break, when everyone just wants to be done it gives [students] some fun little things throughout [the week],” Cox said.
Aside from encouraging students to persevere through the last weeks of school before break, Winterfest aimed to incorporate the community into fun activities.
“Doing it with clubs this year is a great way to integrate clubs into the community more,” Cox said.
During Winterfest, clubs were encouraged to engage with students during lunch each day of the week through winter-related activities such as caroling, and fun snacks.
ASB often collaborates with leadership classes to decorate for events. As ASB president, Mia Harmon, senior, is in charge of overseeing many activities involving Winterfest. ASB hung up silver decorations, to correspond with the “silver bells” school-wide theme for the winter ball. They also hung up posters of yetis that the Leadership 1 classes made.
“On Sunday before Winterfest starts, ASB [came into the school]. I think we were here for about three hours this year. We just go all around the school and hang everything and put it all up,” said Harmon.
When it comes to large school events such as Winterfest, Harmon has a specific philosophy.
“I always think it’s better to be ahead of something than running to catch up,” Harmon said.
Clubs brought a variety of activities and items to their event.
“Anything a club wants to bring, whether that be handing out food, doing an activity that has to do with their club or the culture of their club, or just something winter related, like thespians for example, we did karaoke with winter songs,” said Cox.
This year ASB welcomed many different clubs and organizations from around the school to participate in Winterfest. Winterfest took place during the weeks between Dec. 9 to Dec. 20. Many different clubs such as Thespians, Chess Club and Japanese culture club participated in the week of events. The second week of Winterfest coincided with spirit week.
In the last weeks before break, workload can be heavy for students and tests are abundant. Winterfest allows ASB to acknowledge the student body’s hard work, while celebrating the season.
“It’s really about inspiring students and bringing the community together,” said Harmon. “I think that that’s really the spirit of it and helping everyone push through this time in winter.”
