Chocolate kisses, roses, and the feeling of love filled Carlmont’s campus this past week for Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is a holiday for showcasing sugary sweet feelings to significant others and friends. There are different ways of celebrating this day, like gift-giving and romantic dinners, but at Carlmont, a bit of everything is mixed in.
On a typical school day, bustling hallways are filled with harried students and teachers. However, on Valentine’s Day, C-Hall, the central corridor, was covered in different shades of pink, red, and white. Love was quite literally in the air, as thousands of colored hearts hung from the ceiling.
Every student at Carlmont had a heart with their name on it; due to the sheer number of students, the planning for this heart extravaganza began months in advance.
“We started designing and printing the hearts out in late October. We then cut all of them out, inside and outside of class, hole punched them, wrote all of the names of everyone in the school, and tied strings to each heart,” said Grayson Winghart, a sophomore in the Associated Student Body (ASB).
Winghart is part of Recognition, the committee responsible for the hallway decorations.
The final step was to hang all of the hearts up the Sunday before school. They recruited other students to assist with the lengthy process.
“The purpose of the hearts is to show how every student here is treasured and that ASB loves everyone that attends Carlmont, fully and completely,” Winghart said.
Not only did students set up the splash of color in the halls, but they also planned numerous other Valentine’s Day activities during the week leading up to and the week of Valentine’s Day. One of these activities was selling roses, typically run by the sophomores, but everyone was involved this year.
A member of ASB, senior Izzy Wilson, helped to plan and carry out the rose sales, which have been a Carlmont tradition for many years.
“The school rose sales are super important. They go beyond romantic relationships and particularly show appreciation for the people you love,” Wilson said.
Rose sales began on Feb. 1, and students could buy roses for $2 and attach a handwritten note.
Then, on Valentine’s Day, ASB students delivered the roses to every classroom during third period. These deliveries brought the spirit of love to the classrooms and students who receive them.
Sophomore Ava Gaboury described their experience receiving a rose.
“Getting a note and a rose was really sweet, and it definitely put a smile on my face,” Gaboury said. “It’s always the little things that make you feel the most loved. I also think it was awesome that ASB set that up because I know it took a lot of effort, but it was a great way for people to spread kindness and love on Valentine’s Day. ”
In addition to the rose distributions, ASB set up Valentine’s Day-themed lunch activities like the Kissing Booth. Despite its name, there was no kissing at the booth. Instead, members of ASB handed out Hershey’s Kisses.
Running the booth was senior Maya Blodgett and other ASB students. Before lunch, these students spent their ASB class period preparing the booth and other activities.
Blodgett loves the spirit of Valentine’s Day and believes that the fun event spreads the affectionate feelings of the holiday.
“We just want to spread the positivity of Valentine’s Day and to remind everyone that they are loved,” Blodgett said.
