Depending on your relationship status, Valentine’s Day can feel like it is spent in shared commiseration rather than in celebration. Even as the designated holiday for romance it’s no stretch to say that the last time the scale really tipped in the opposite direction was elementary school.
This year, around 40 Oyster River High School (ORHS) seniors revived the childhood tradition of decorating bags and swapping candies and letters: something that brought us so much joy growing up. The event took place in the senior core during advisory on Thursday, February 15th.
The plan originated in English teacher Jen Weeks’ room a few weeks ago during advisory. The group was planning a Valentine’s Day breakfast celebration, one of their typical holiday staples. Sandro Garofalo (’24) said, “When there’s a holiday or a school break, Ms. Weeks always brings us in these little goodie bags with candy, or she’ll bake us cookies or something and it makes advisory feel like a treat.” This sentiment started the conversation where Weeks’ advisory began reminiscing on how much better coming into school can be when there are little things like that to look forward to.
It was during this conversation planning that senior Emy Przybylski suggested swapping Valentine’s Day cards. “We were going to do it during our breakfast, and it just seemed kind of nostalgic,” she said. Her plan was partially inspired by their advisor’s classic goodie bags, and partially by the nostalgia of not having these traditions anymore.
The rest of the advisory ran with this idea. Przybylski said they were “basically just planning to get some of our other friends to do it too, because we thought it would be more fun with more people.” Eventually, there was a debate over whether to partner up with one or two other advisories instead. Eventually this turned into going to several senior advisories, recruiting.
“It isn’t like we thought everyone was going to be like, ‘This is awesome I really want to do this’, because we aren’t stupid. It’s not everyone’s thing, and that’s okay. We just wanted the people who wanted to do it, to do it,” said Garofalo. And so, the recruitment began, and 38 seniors signed up within twelve minutes.
With a confirmed list, an email was quickly sent out by senior, and Weeks’ advisee, Abby Owens, providing the details.
Prior to the event, Mike Mazza (‘24), another one of Weeks’ advisees said, “I’m not really a big Valentine’s Day guy, but the day is nice I guess, and it’s nice that we’re doing this… I mean, I’m going to come into advisory for it.”
His bag was decorated early during advisory on Friday, February 9th, in what Cam Monette (’24) has deemed an accurate representation of his personality (it has a tiger inside of a jungle drawn on it). Monette’s bag had a shark on it, and read, “There’s always a bigger fish.” Needless to say, the craft was a source of creative inspiration for many seniors.
Owens said, “Dream big but always remember there is, indeed, always going to be a bigger fish. Here in Weeks’ advisory, we like to combine childhood fun with reminders of the sad truths of adulthood. Keeps us grounded.”
On February 15th, the ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ notes were scribbled, and the candy was distributed within the 45-minute advisory period. Elie Dulin, one of the seniors who participated said, “This is literally so cute. I love it; it feels like we’re little again.”
These 37+ seniors spent the remaining time laughing and joking with each other.
By high school, so many little things like this are overshadowed with homework, late nights, and a looming future. While posing with his box of runts, a favorite candy, Jack Carpenter simply said, “This is way better than normal school; I love getting candy from strangers.”
Weeks commented that she hopes more people will get the chance to do it next year. During the event, Garafolo mentioned that he thinks if it was not created at the last minute, more people would have heard about it and been able to join in.
Regardless of how many people participated, those who did found joy in reliving childhood memories. “I remember spending hours writing little notes, and not being able to sleep the night before because I was so excited,” said Annabelle Svenson (’24).
This event was about using the shared feelings of nostalgic memories to create new ones. Things often look better in hindsight, anyways. In fact, it is possible that – even in elementary school — there was plenty of wallowing on February 14th. “I’m not trying to re-create anything. Heartbreak hurt the most back then anyways,” Przybylski said, and then added that she is “just taking this for what it is.”
Hopefully this Valentine’s Day was spent celebrating. And if not, at least for those who were able to participate, there was a bag of candy to console any broken or bruised hearts.
– Mia Boyd
Mouth of the River 
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