What is Marie Curie Winterfest?

If this is your first year at Marie Curie, whether you are a student or a teacher, you might have not heard of our school's annual Winterfest. Winterfest is a month-long celebration of holiday and school spirit held throughout December. It is a friendly, school-wide competition where homerooms earn points by participating in daily challenges. Each day, there will be a new Winterfest challenge on the morning meeting slides. Homerooms can earn points by completing these challenges. The better you do during the challenges the more points you earn! The homeroom with the highest number points at the end of the month is the wins! Last year, the prizes were free boba tea and wamochi waffles which were donated from Moma Ashi. Each challenge will have its own rules, so pay close attention to the slides during the morning meeting slides. Points are awarded based on the  percentage of students who participate or by highscore, depending on the challenge. This year, Winterfest will start on Monday, December 1st and will run until Tuesday, December 23rd. Most importantly, Winterfest is all about having fun!

What are some of the challenges?

Last year we had 15 school days filled with 15 different challenges. Some of the challenges include a holiday Kahoot, a snow shovelling contest, or wearing green for Grinch Day. Each challenge has different rules. For example, for the Kahoot challenge, you would need to participate in the Kahoot. The winner’s high score would be submitted. The Top 3 highscores will get extra points! Each year we had different challenges. When I was in 6th grade, we had a puzzle challenge that did not return in 7th grade. However, the biggest challenge is the songs and decoration. This challenge probably earns you the most points. For the song, classes would create a music video with a Christmas song of their choice to sing to. You can even perform (dance) and submit a recording for everyone to see in the morning meeting slides. Homerooms will earn 200 points and bonus points will be added if they demonstrate originality, celebrate, cultural diversity, or show school spirit. Teachers would rehearse and arrange desks to make these music videos. The decoration challenge requests classes to transform their hallways and rooms with festive designs. All homerooms who decorate their classrooms, doors, and/or hallways will receive 200 Winterfest points! You can get bonus points for this activity as well. During homeroom or lunch you can help make decorations for your class. I still remember that every year Ms. Silvestri goes all out with the decorations. She brought an inflatable, a Christmas tree, and a ton of other decorations to fill up the hallway!

What my Class did Last Year

Last year my class didn’t really get that high up the leaderboard. We were near the bottom even though we completed every challenge. Many classes had around 2-3 times our score. We tried to decorate our classroom and I thought we did decently. Our theme was a Santa’s Workshop. We made a Santa’s Workshop, a reindeer, and presents all made out of paper that surrounded the outside of the classroom. I thought we did a pretty good job, but I guess that some classes just go above and beyond. At the end of the day, this goes to show how competitive Winterfest really is.