Winter Carnival: the best day of the year wrapped in mystery. The students did not know when it would be, and the surprise was enormous. 

Winter Carnival is an annual celebration at MacDuffie School that has ancient origins. This festival differs from all others precisely because of its unpredictability, which makes it unique. 

The day began with an assembly, where the students were told that they would have no class that day. Subsequently, after dividing into their respective groups, the fun could start. Each group would have to obtain as many points as possible during the day in order to win a $150 voucher to eat at Dunkin Donuts during the following assembly. 

Different activities were organized in almost every area and classroom of the school. Some examples were Twister, a bottle flip challenge, and tug-of-war. In each activity, two different groups had to compete against each other. The winners would get a 10-point ticket and the losers a 5-point ticket. However, there were other ways to get points. Finding the MacDuffie mascot puppets, singing The Magnolia Song, or painting your advisor’s white T-shirt would all give extra points.

The magical atmosphere and involvement of the whole community were the main characteristics of the festival. Regardless of age, the students seemed to have become little children again because of how much carefree fun they were having.

In the days following the Winter Carnival, a group of students offered valuable feedback and narrated particular anecdotes related to that special day. 

Jonas Mata, a junior MacDuffie student, particularly remembers the watermelon challenge, saying, “This particular activity caught my attention immediately because it was very fun and I had a chance to eat some fruit.” In this particular challenge, you had to eat a slice of watermelon as fast as possible without using your hands. However, what enthused him the most was the trivia. He observed that “During this game, where the questions were not obvious, I felt the importance of teamwork and cooperation.” This was a general culture quiz in which you had to answer faster than the other team.

On the other hand, Gonzalo Frias, a sophomore student at MacDuffie, remembers the cookie challenge, saying, “The best activity was the one in the dining hall run by Sophie Griffin because I got to eat a delicious cookie.” The challenge consisted of creating the most artistic and visually beautiful cookie. Gonzalo Frias is also eager to mention another challenge: the Super Mario car race. With respect to this, he said, “The challenge organized by Zach was fantastic. I managed to beat my record and came in first place beating the other team. I felt very happy when my whole team started cheering for me.”

Certainly, the anecdotes of the interviewees are very interesting, but more than the interviews were conducted. There is a future innovation that, if made, could improve this day in the next few years: the snowman challenge, which was proposed by the two interviewees. A new outdoor activity where whoever builds the largest snowman wins. This new challenge could be an exciting and fun experience for students and advisors as the Winter Carnival is organized in winter. 

Winter in Granby is not just a lot of snow!