Any student who’s been at Northwood for at least one year has noticed a change to a Winter Tradition. Winter Carnival is no longer run by the four-year captains, and there is no longer a draft. Instead, it is now a Peak event. Many kids have their doubts about the new system as they’ve barely gotten to know their Peaks. The teams have been active for less than a year.
Many returning students are disappointed with the change. Yoshi Levey ‘19 in Peak Wolfjaw said, “Winter Carnival is fun, but I’m not so sure about the whole Peak thing. It’s way better when it’s just the draft and you get to pick your team.” Levey is a four-year survivor at Northwood but was not initially chosen as the team captain. He commented, “I just got sewered. I talked to Ms. Agnew, and now I’m a captain. But I don’t think that’s very cool. I mean, four-year survivors have always been captains, so it would’ve been nice if that’s just the way we kept it.”
Levey is not the only student who is unhappy about the change in the Winter Carnival tradition. Lexi Hooper ‘20 has attended Northwood for three years now and hopes to be a captain next year. “I don’t like how the Winter Carnival teams are Peak teams. Four-year seniors have looked forward to being captains so they can draft. A lot of the excitement comes from the draft, but this is completely disregarded when we use Peaks.” Hooper added, “As a three-year junior, I look forward to being a captain next year. But in future years, teams can be completely uneven because when new kids come in, they will be randomly put on teams without anyone knowing what they can give to the team, so one team could be completely stacked.”
Ms. Mavis Agnew is the Head of Residential Life and organizer of all Peak events. When asked why Winter Carnival became a Peak event, she replied, “There was a committee of board members and a bunch of student volunteers last year who wanted to find ways to increase school spirit. They wanted to take the idea of Winter Carnival and expand it all year round. So when we picked the Peak teams, we intended to keep the same teams for the entire year, not only for Winter Carnival.”
Though the system on which Winter Carnival is based is new, most students are still excited. Maggie MacNeil ‘20, who came to Northwood at the beginning of the 2018-2019 year, said, “I’m pretty excited. Everyone’s been boosting it up, telling about past stories with their old teams. I’m looking forward to Broomball, which I’ve never done, so it’ll be pretty fun.”
