On April 21, class councils and Campus Connections led a second carnival for the student body. With games like Pictionary, duck duck goose, corn hole and a potato sack race scattered across the football field, students competed to score spirit points for their classes and win the Don Baton.
In the past, Aragon has showcased school spirit with a variety of events, such as the Lip Dub or rallies. However, with COVID-19 restrictions, the Carnival offered a safer, outdoor alternative.
“We normally have three big all-school rallies: back-to-school, winter formal and homecoming,” said Senior Class President Ren Chua. “It would be like the battle of the classes. We would divide up the gym into four quadrants, your class would sit in your quadrant color and you would be all decked out in that color. We were just basically trying to follow the tradition and make it as safe as possible, and hopefully introducing some newer traditions as well.”
In the fall, a similar carnival took place in lieu of a homecoming rally. Though Winter Formal was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, class councils still wanted to hold a schoolwide event to promote school spirit, and they decided to put together a second carnival.
“We had received some positive feedback about the Fall Carnival, and we thought since even though COVID-19 was kind of dying down, it’s still a risk [to have a rally],” said Sophomore Student Council President Rachel Ma. “We thought it’d be better to just continue with [a] spring carnival instead.”
A few key changes were made between carnivals based on feedback from the last carnival’s participants. As the games were either played in two or three-minute segments, time constraints posed a unique challenge, prompting organizers to extend the first few games and then speed them up as the carnival progressed.
Additionally, Leadership conducted surveys to see what games were the most and least popular, replacing and adding games accordingly. While the Fall Carnival had 12 games, the Spring Carnival had 14.
However, despite the changes, some preferred the first carnival.
“A lot of people I know didn’t find it very interesting”
“The first one was more fun,” said freshman Noah Lin. “It was more organized and better-run and there was a lot of just standing around in this one. We didn’t get through all the games.”
Others preferred other all-school events over the carnivals, such as the rallies or the Lip Dub.
“A lot of people I know didn’t find it very interesting and would have rather skipped [the event],” Lin said. “The Lip Dub would have been more fun, and it was one of the things I was looking forward to as a freshman and I was sad we didn’t have it this year.”
Each game was run by club officers and leadership helpers, some of whom had mixed feelings about the event.
“I didn’t have much fun running a game,” said Programming Club President and senior Iva Goel. “I personally like the rallies better just because you can see a lot of people get really spirited. At the carnival, I saw one class that had a bunch of noisemakers, pom poms and matching hats. But, other than that, there wasn’t that much spirit.”
However, other volunteers enjoy the interactive nature of the carnival and working with students.
“I had a lot of fun at this Carnival,” said sophomore Zayne Abraham. “I felt like people were more engaged and Anime Club was really fun to work with.”
“We thought since even though COVID-19 was kind of dying down, it’s still a risk [to have a rally]”
The carnival was created to give students an opportunity to showcase school spirit in a safe setting, but it’s likely Aragon will bring rallies back in the future.
“The carnival is something that we definitely shouldn’t do again,” Chua said. “But I am very thankful that we were able to hold an all-school event, get out there, show some spirit, play some games and win some tickets.”
While there will be a Lip Dub next year, the future of club carnivals is uncertain.
“Next year, I’m looking forward to the Lip Dub for sure; I want to do another one before I graduate,” said junior and Table Tennis Club President Azim Saidov. “But the carnivals have more potential than just being [a] COVID-19 safe [alternative]. They should be their own thing eventually.”
The Spring Carnival was characterized by mixed feelings from both participating students and leadership alike, leaving some energized, but others disappointed.
