Spud Fest is an annual event hosted by Ojai Valley School’s Upper Campus, where students from Ojai Valley School’s Lower Campus come up for a carnival-like gathering. The event will feature will have inflatable rides and games, and activities like tie-dye and fake tattoos.
At Spud Fest, all students compete in a Team Comp activity run by Student Council. This year, Team Comp groups are the designated all-school camping groups. Team Comp is where student groups compete against each other to win points for their groups.
The purpose of this event is to bring together students from the Upper Campus and the Lower Campus to better connect. Spud Fest gives the 8th graders at OVS Lower Campus a chance to meet Upper Campus students and see what their possible school for the following year will be like.
It also gives the high schoolers a chance to meet the middle schoolers at OVS Lower Campus, who could come to OVS Upper Campus in the next few years.
“The main point, at least to me, I’d say it is a good connection, a good introduction to upper campus, especially for the eighth graders who come up,” Student Council president Vincent Bell said.
Spirit days are a small part of OVS’s Student Council plans for the year. Haruna Watanabe, Student Council Vice President, runs the Event/Spirit Days at OVS, and this year, some of the top priorities for Spirit Days are Beach Day, Senior Splash, and Halloween.
“Got to have a golf day, emo day, in addition to spirit days, we’re gonna have some more fun games like steal your luck or steal your heart games,” Vincent Bell says. Beach Day took place on September 19th, and students had the choice to dress up in beachwear like swim shorts, Hawaiian shirts, or a sun hat.
Senior Splash is another spirit day plan where seniors get assigned someone to eliminate with a water gun until there is one last person standing. The Halloween spirit event this year is going to be run by the sophomores and class reps. The plan is for it to be more of an activity than a dance because Halloween is on a Friday rather than a school night.
Spud Fest is more than an exciting event with games. It brings students closer together while creating an unforgettable experience that creates bonds between high schoolers and middle schoolers.