In honor of Winter Week, members of the student council hosted a virtual trivia game on Thursday, Feb. 4. Classes that participated had one student join a zoom on behalf of their class to compete against other classes. Although Winter Week looked a lot different this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the student council worked diligently to make it as entertaining as possible.

The student council treasurer senior Sashwat Das helped transition the Winter Week activities to fit a COVID-19 friendly model. As challenges arose, the student council worked efficiently to make everything happen in time for a memorable week.

“We planned some in-person events at first, but a couple of days before Winter Week, we got an email saying that the administration talked to the board of health, and they said that there were no in-person events allowed,” Das said. “It was challenging because we had to shift our plans very quickly.”

Student council member senior Michael Long also contributed to the efforts made to create a safe way to run the events. Even though the activities throughout the week weren’t the same as in previous years, the council members still tried their best to make the week feel as normal as possible.

“I feel like we made the most out of it and that student council did a great job with the cards they were dealt,” Long said. “But, it was still obviously very disappointing when the Board of Health told us that all of our events had to be virtual and remote.”

The pandemic inflicted limitations on many school traditions. In order to make the most of this challenging time, the student council worked together to adapt Winter Week and the trivia game to an online alternative.

“Online Winter Week is a tall order,” student council member senior Zachary Marto said. “Elizabeth Zhong, the student council president, and our advisor, Ms. Pitcairn [worked] hard to make Winter Week the best it could be.”

Long thought that Winter Week—in addition to the snow day on Tuesday, Feb. 2—was amusing this year with activities such as the Social Dilemma screening, acappella performances and the talent show. He enjoyed the trivia game despite the fact that it was over Zoom this year.

“My mandarin class and I had a blast and took home the dub,” Long said. “It was also a fun class activity and experience to work as a team.”

As a host of the trivia activity, Marto says that he did everything he could to make the experience special even through the computer screen. As classes submitted their answers, Marto could hear their distant reactions.

“I was sitting in the English office, and sometimes I could hear cheering or groans from classrooms down the halls when they got the answers right or wrong,” Marto said.

Because of the new regulations, Winter Week has been altered significantly. For the class of 2021, who haven’t been able to experience most of the traditional senior events, the abnormal Winter Week was disappointing. Winter Week is usually a perfect time for the seniors to bond as a class, which was tough to do in a socially distanced environment.

“It’s in the second semester that seniors typically begin to feel like a closer community, and Winter Week usually kickstarts that,” Marto said. “I hope that we still get the chance to come together in the last bit of our time at high school.”