Northwood’s 2026 Winter Carnival is just around the corner, and many students are excited for this annual day of games and no classes. As usual, the school is split into four peaks that will compete for the highest amount of points to win the carnival.
Jacob Slagel ’26 is a Head’s Council member, the group of seniors that lead their respective peaks. “Having seen four winter carnivals, it’s a little bit different of an experience leading it, especially with having to draft people,” he said. “We all met in the lecture hall, and we went group by group. Franny had like, a little spin-the-wheel-type thing where we all got a number for our picking orders.”
Winter Carnival is always a competitive time for Northwood. Slagel said, “I think we got a pretty good chance here. I’m looking forward to the puzzle. I mean, it’s always difficult every year. Ms Riffle gets kind of mean with those puzzles, but it’s worth it when it gets finished.”
Jack Kroll ’26 is also going into his fourth Winter Carnival, saying, “I’m really excited for the bouncy house obstacle course. That’s my favorite part. I feel like I don’t touch the ground when I’m in it, I fly through that. Also, I’m really, really excited for snow castle, and there’s a lot of snow this year.”
Winter Carnival is also popular because of the lack of classes. “It’ll be nice to have the day off,” says Slagel. “Having a day to do games is nice, especially when we’re all getting tired from the long school year. Being able to take a day, especially at the end of a quarter, to just have fun and play with your friends is really nice.”
These students also shared some insights on winning strategies. “Leading will be different, because I have a lot more responsibility, making sure people actually show up, which I think that will be the biggest thing. We have to make sure people know what events they’re signed up for. Also, all the attendance events are really important. Those will be the deciding factors for some of the points,” said Slagel. From a different perspective, Jack Kroll is a PG and led the winning team in last year’s Winter Carnival. Now a participant again, Kroll says, “I understand how important is to win on the little events, like the puzzle, the snow castle, rock climbing. Those things are super important and teams don’t really realize that, and that’s why they don’t win. That’s what we maximized last year, what Gothics is going to maximize again this year, when we take home back-to-back dubs. Shout out, Flo [Richard ‘26], Anna Monnette [‘26], Henry Kress [‘26] drafted a great team. I’m really excited.”
