New Event, New Success
This year, student leadership concluded Wish Week with Celebration of Wishes, an alternative to the Sadies’ winter dance.
Sprinkled with bright, neon colors, the lights illuminating the Wish Week display were just one of many decorative features of the Celebration of Wishes event on Feb. 8. A fun, alternative twist on the classic Sadies’ dance that would punctuate the end of Wish Week, this unique event celebrated the student body’s ability to unite to contribute to a cause greater than our own in donating to wish kid Raegan. “What inspired this is our community…goes all out for Wish Week every year,” leadership teacher Mrs. Tamara Johnson said, “We wanted to throw a fun party to thank our student[s].”
March 4, 2019
Cherokee Trail concluded Wish Week with a bang in the form of the Celebration of Wishes event on Feb. 8. This unique event, the first of its kind at CT, featured a variety of entertainment to appeal to all kinds of students. It included a dance floor, a DJ, neon lights in the cafeteria, and poker tables circling the commons, and a photo booth, all the usual sights of a school dance, but what set this occasion apart was the inclusion of the gymnasium full of inflatables.
Students could compete in a round of human foosball, race each other through tunnels and down a slide through an obstacle course, race to the top of an inflatable dome, among other challenges.
“My favorite [inflatable course] was wipeout,” Ashley Quinn (11) said.
An alternative to the Sadies’ winter dance, which would act as a final fundraising event at the end of Wish Week in previous years, it seems the idea for the Celebration of Wishes came from leadership’s goal of creating a new final Wish Week event that a variety of students could enjoy, including those who may not be interested in attending a dance.
Dancing the night away with their friends amongst pulsating neon lights, the Celebration of Wishes event included many staple inclusions of a school dance, such as music and a dance floor, as well as the unique new additions, giving students a variety of fun things to do to celebrate another successful Wish Week.
“[Our goal] is to have a relaxed, laid back, fun party, a place where everyone can come and hang out with their friends,” leadership member Logan Edwards (12) said, “It is…a fun party for our school to come to [do] something different, mix it up a bit.”
Students seemed to appreciate the variety of things this event had to offer, making it a brand new and unique event that set it apart from the typical school dance.
“It really brings everybody together…[and offers] more opportunities for different people,” Kelsey Bell (10) said.
It appears students were also drawn to the event because they saw it as another opportunity to contribute to a cause greater than their own and support wish kid Raegan.
“[I came] mostly to donate more money to Raegan,” Tanner Meeks (12) said.
United in dawning the lavender “Rally for Raegan” tee-shirts, showcasing their support for this year’s wish kid, students wait in line to compete on the Race to the Top inflatable. The inflatable obstacle courses and games filling the gymnasium was one of the most exciting new additions that set the Celebration of Wishes event apart from Wish Week events of the past, making this an event that offered an array of different activities to appeal to a wider variety of students. “[I came because] I heard about the inflatables,” Victoria Nawalany (12) said, “I like this event a lot more because it’s not a typical dance…I think this is nice, something different.”
“[This event is] our way of saying thank you to all the kids who do step up,” leadership teacher Mrs. Tamara Johnson said.
Leadership member Lindsey Fanning (11) echoed this sentiment when she said, “Our main goal is to include all groups of kids, uniting the school to celebrate what the student body has done.”
A total of around 500 tickets had been sold by the start of the event, and an estimated 430 of those tickets had been purchased within the two days leading up the event.
Despite the risks leadership was taking in hosting a brand new event, and the lack of certainty that came from not knowing how many students would end up attending, it seems that the event was a success and there is hope for the continuing success of a similar Wish Week event in the future.
“Even if 200 students came, it would be a success, because that’s 200 students who may not have come [to a dance] otherwise,” Principal Jean Griego-Incitti said.
“We [were] taking quite a risk. This year we…invest[ed] quite a bit of money into creating that party vibe, but…it is student body money going back to the student body, and saying thank you for making Wish Week a success,” Johnson said.
