Fall Fest was hosted on the Quad during Community Time on Oct. 30. After attending their respective Community Time assemblies based on dean groups, students were able to enjoy fall-themed activities which included a donut eating competition, pumpkin decoration and bowling.
Student Affairs and Attendance Coordinator Michael Plourde said Fall Fest was an effective way to gather students and celebrate the season while promoting other relevant community events.
“Our main goal with this was to get all the students to be in community with one another and celebrate the season,” Plourde said. “We wanted to encourage our students to attend the play this year, ‘Macbeth,’ which is why we planned the teaser, and we also wanted to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos with the assembly happening in the gym.”
Hudson Shen ’28 said Fall Fest was an effective way of promoting community while ensuring everyone was able to partake in all of the fall festivities.
“I enjoyed the activity portion of Fall Fest, and I appreciated that we weren’t obligated to do anything but still could do as much as we wanted,” Shen said. “This was a good way to boost community engagement to an extent since there were a lot of group activities, or at least things that were more fun when done together. I also was glad that there were a variety of activity choices so no one was left out and everyone was able to find some activity that they genuinely wanted to be doing.”
Genevieve Watson ’27 said she enjoyed having the ability to choose between different activities and locations.
“I liked the amount of freedom we got during Fall Fest,” Watson said. “You could hang out by the benches if you wanted, do a bunch of different activities and you had ample time to enjoy everything that was available. I personally really liked the pumpkin painting activity as well as the variety of special fall snacks that were available.”
Plourde said he was glad to see students reinforcing their relationships with peers in a screen-free environment.
“This was a very successful event,” Plourde said. “It really was just about having the students connect with each other and have some fun on campus during the school day. Part of that was having the students disconnect at the same time by getting off their laptops, putting away their phones and really just enjoying being up there and present with one another, with some fun activities and desserts to celebrate the beginning of a new season.”
Shen said he is excited for future events like Fall Fest.
“I genuinely enjoyed this event,” Shen said. “I’m looking forward to more in the future.”
Watson said she appreciated being able to spend some quality time in-person with her friends without experiencing any academic stress.
“Fall Fest was a great opportunity for a lot of students to catch up with their friends,” Watson said. “This was a relaxing, interactive and exciting way to spend Community Time, especially since this event took place right before the first quarter came to a close. It was nice being able to have some free time to ourselves without having to stress too much about grades and assessments.”
