Lights are hung, the tree is decorated, and Norwin Student Council members are ready for the fun to begin. It is Candy Cane Castle and the kids are about to come running through the halls. As they walk through the doors, parents and children smell fresh pancakes and sweet maple syrup. The sounds of the Norwin show choir greet families with classic Christmas songs and everyone is ready for an exciting morning.
On Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, Student Council will be hosting the annual Candy Cane Castle at Norwin High School to raise funds for future school events. There will be stations including story time, meeting Santa Claus, writing letters to Santa, decorating cookies, and many more activities. Tickets were available on the Hometown ticketing app. Ages 4+ were $10 and children 3 and under were free.
Advisors Miss Marissa Pecora and Mrs. Angela Hufnagel are supervising Candy Cane Castle for the first time this year.
“The most challenging part about organizing this event is probably not knowing,” Pecora said. “Since I don’t have kids and Mrs. Hufnagel’s kids are grown, we don’t really know what to expect. There’s a lot of little details that go into this like how many popsicle sticks we need and it adds up quickly. We’re definitely up for the challenge.”
Many changes are being made to Candy Cane Castle this year. Some of the biggest include no more Disney characters, adding a toy drive, just dance stations, and more inflatables.
“So obviously we knew that cosmic characters were a big thing that lots of people enjoyed, but due to many big changes, we will be removing them,” Student Council President Ameer Elatrache said. “We are going to be gearing towards getting away from Disney a bit from now on, but we have a lot of stuff planned.”
The Student Council and their advisors have been using their social media platform to promote events like this for months. Platforms including @norwinstuco on Instagram and @norwinstudentcouncil on TikTok provide additional information on school events.
“We’ve really been trying to use our social media profile and our new TikTok to drum up a lot of interest and support,” Hufnagel said. “Although high school students aren’t necessarily our target audience, their families definitely are, so we’ve been definitely trying to lean into our social media.”
Candy Cane Castle continues to be a popular event with families and children of the community. The student council members and advisors help Candy Cane Castle to be a successful event every year.
“We’ve planned for months and months and even though the actual event is just a couple hours it’s something we think is absolutely 100% worth it,” Elatrache said.
