The lights of diyas and the smell of Indian food filled the air on Friday evening, October 17, at KO. The cultural decorations and the bright, colorful traditional clothes brought joy to the Community Commons. What once started as a small celebration in Roberts last year during community time has grown into a huge event with a large crowd.
This event brought families and friends together to recognize the festival of Lights. This event symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness, often represented as good over evil. With the vibed songs, amazing food, and a big crowd, I would say this event was a success. This event was very memorable.
The celebrations were filled with fun activities, including diya decorating, rangoli, henna, and traditional Indian games. People who attended the event enjoyed food and vibed to the music. The variety of flavors, from spicy to sweet, in food, to the songs in different languages in India. The parents put effort into making this happen, and so did Mrs. Hojnicki, an English teacher took a big part in making this happen. It was an opportunity for students and teachers to participate in the event and create lasting memories.
People were meeting new people and taking photos with family and friends. Last year, there was a Diwali celebration during community time at Robers. Seeing that it brought so many people together and that people were interested in trying new things, this inspired more ideas for planning a bigger event for this year. KO didn’t have a day off on Diwali, but after showing how the small event in Roberts was a big hit showed how it matters. This year, it was even better, with more food and more activities that allowed people to become more interested in learning about everything. One aspect I particularly enjoyed during the event was the vibrant colors that were present everywhere. I also like how there were opportunities for people to get involved by decorating the space with rangoli.
The students who helped organize this event were myself, Rhea Doshi, Sruthi Thiyagarajan, Manya Sehgal, and Vyshnavi Setru. Manya and I started the Milan affinity group to plan the event and make it even bigger with the support of parents, financial help, and donations. The support from people made things possible — through assemblies, flyers, and emails — and the event turned out to be worth the effort. I attended an event where I learned about Diwali and experienced its spirit with the people I love the most. The long conversations, interacting with new people, trying new foods, and playing games made it feel like a genuine Diwali event. Towards the end of the event, as it grew darker, the Community Commons began to glow with diyas, and it looked really pretty.
Although it started small, the event grew larger this year and provided a better experience for attendees. With new things to try and more colors, the experience became even better. As it grew darker, the light began to glow, illuminating everyone and revealing that the glow-in-the-dark presence signifies that there’s always good in every bad. I hope that next year the event is even bigger and more memorable for the whole school.
