The esteemed Senior Student Council never fails to showcase their creativity, integrity, and responsibility in regard to the success of school events.

With Winterfest right around the corner, they’re going above and beyond in channeling these qualities to make this Winterfest week one to treasure.

“A lot of people think of Winterfest as the ‘little sister’ of Homecoming, but they definitely overlook its importance,” senior vice president Dani Ahmetovic said. “Winterfest helps revive our school’s spirit and reminds students of what it means to be a part of Ranger Country.”

With Winterfest being supposedly so underrated, the Class of 2020 will continue to work to set the event’s relevance equal to that of Homecoming. The seniors’ hard work and dedication to enhancing Ranger pride is all worth it in the end.

“The seniors have been through it all,” Winterfest organizer Kristin O’Brien said. “You can see how the quality of their work has changed and how they have stepped up as seniors.”

With O’Brien playing such a broad part in Student Council, she has experienced each individual member’s growth from freshman to seniors. Their leadership skills have definitely grown stronger; they’re shining through in each and every project or event they take on.

“They’re the leaders,” O’Brien said. “They are also super helpful to the sophomores and freshmen who haven’t experienced a lot of high school yet.” 

Every year, Winterfest planning requires a lot of time and devotion. Student Council is expected to come up with extravagant new games and challenges for the anticipated Winterfest assembly the Friday before the dance. 

This year, the seniors have generated some entertaining and competitive activities for the student body to participate in. Last year’s fan favorite was the ‘lip dubs:’ a dance that each grade does at the assembly. However, there was a conflict due to the participation of the lip dubs last year.

“A lot of classes struggled with getting participation and finding time to make a quality video,” senior class treasurer Sarah Buchanan said. “So, this year, we loosened the rules a little bit.”

To reduce stress and time, Student Council declared that the lip dub will be substituted with a music video instead. Therefore, instead of having to use one continuous shot, students can utilize multiple takes within their music video. Overall, this allows for more creativity and a more enjoyable experience.

Additionally, there was an idea to revive an old FHC challenge: snow sculptures. But due to the lack of snow on the ground and the forty-degree weather, this may not be feasible.

“Basically, the idea is that each grade will create a giant snow sculpture on the property,” Sarah said. “I guess it used to be a huge thing, and students got super into it.”

Unfortunately, according to O’Brien, the weather will not be in our favor for this upcoming week.

“Given the amount of snow we have, I don’t think we’re going to do [snow sculptures,]” O’Brien said. “I hate to disappoint the students, but we will look forward to doing it next year.”

Nevertheless, the withdrawal of snow sculpture competition does not limit the rest of the planned activities—one of which is the annual window paintings.

“I love seeing all the window paintings every year around Winterfest,” Sarah said. “It’s so great to see each class work together and create a painting of their own to display.”

The yearly window painting competition brings out the artistic side of FHC’s student body. It brings each grade together to showcase their painting skills, and it helps achieve a common goal: winning.

With all of these anticipated challenges and activities comes stress—not just for the students.

“This time of year is always hectic,” O’Brien said. “There is so much initiated planning to do between winter break and now, which I feel most definitely causes some stress among us [teachers].”

Coping with the stress Winterfest brings is difficult, but Student Council never fails to take it all in serenely.

“In our class’s Student Council, all ideas are equal,” Dani said. “Positions really aren’t as important as ideas are, and if anyone has something to say, they are always taken into consideration.”

Dani enjoys the perspective he gained from being on Student Council; he has a single focus of trying to make as many seniors as possible active within class activities.

In accordance with FHC tradition, everyone shows up to school in pajamas on Monday and Ranger gear on the following Friday. But for the days in between, it varies.

“It can sometimes be hard to find themes that everyone will want to participate in,” Sarah said. “We have to find a balance because some themes that would be really fun to do may also be hard for everyone to find something to wear for it—like meme day.”

As highly requested as certain themes were, Student Council came to a conclusion about the best way to determine the spirit day themes.

“We decided on this year’s themes by voting by class on which days we wanted,” Sarah said. “I think they are a good balance between fun and easy to do.”

This anonymous decision was smart in regard to equality. Everyone gets a say, and the compromising aspect is beneficial to bonding as a school. 

The lead up to the Winterfest dance itself is a blast, but the Friday before is what truly hypes up the school and showcases Ranger pride. Especially because of the dreaded return from winter break, coming to school is a drag for most; but, with the excitement of Winterfest, students end up looking forward to school.

“Fun assemblies like Winterfest help to break up things and add fun to the semester,” Sarah said. “I think assemblies are so important for our school in general. They help everyone to feel like they are a part of Ranger Country and get excited to be a part of their school. Winterfest is no different. It’s very similar to the festivities of Homecoming, and people love the fun that it brings to the school.”

Ultimately, the uplifting spirit of Winterfest is grand; it brings out the best of the student body as it nears the second school dance of the year. Winterfest wouldn’t occur if it weren’t for the remarkable and hard-working seniors on the appreciated student council.

“I love Winterfest. It helps revive our schools spirit and reminds students of what it means to be a part of Ranger Country,” Dani said. “From the basketball game to the class competitions, you can see students’ pride in our school increase and an overall strengthening of Ranger Country.”