There is no denying that the Menlo community embraces the holiday season. From ugly sweaters to throwing toilet paper during “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” holiday traditions are highly valued. Although Menlo as a school has many rituals, groups of Menlo students have also formed their own traditions for the season.
This holiday spirit is exemplified by Menlo advocacies: for example, Director of Community Engagement Ava Petrash’s junior advocacy constructs gingerbread houses as a group every holiday season. Petrash was walking through Trader Joe’s around Halloween when her students were freshmen when she saw gingerbread houses. At the time, she was looking for activities to help bond her new advocacy together more.
Because of this, Petrash decided to get three gingerbread houses and divide her advocacy into groups so they could compete with each other when building them. Her advocacy loved the activity so much that they wanted to do it again the next year, and thus gingerbread house building is something the advocacy is looking forward to this year and next. “It’s a fun way to have them work with people in the advo who maybe they’re not as naturally close to,” Petrash said.
Junior and member of the Petrash advocacy Sophie Avila agrees that working with a smaller group to construct their houses helps with the group dynamic. “I definitely feel like it brings us together and has helped us bond a lot more,” Avila said.
The gingerbread house making takes place right before finals for the advocacy, so according to Avila, it’s a fun way to relax and destress before finals. “Inevitably, it’s always really messy and chaotic but really fun,” Petrash said.
A common holiday tradition for different groups at Menlo is Secret Santa, where participants are randomly assigned another group member that they must get a gift for. Often using a wishlist and keeping within a budget, they pick out a gift for their person and give it to them.
Senior Audrey Hochstetler and her friend group have done a Secret Santa every year since they were freshmen. They use the website drawnames to assign gift givers and recipients, set their budget and make a wish list. For her friend group, Secret Santa replaces traditional holiday gift-giving. “It’s just fun and kind of takes the stress off of getting stuff for everyone,” Hochstetler said.
Similar to Hochstetler and her friend group, the Menlo Mock Trial team also does a Secret Santa. For them, it’s scheduled annually as a team bonding activity. “You’re randomly assigned a person on the team and then you have two weeks to figure out a gift for the person,” senior and mock trial attorney Cody Kletter said.
The gifts range from inside jokes to more thoughtful gifts. “Mock bonding and the Secret Santa is important because it’s during the time period where [old and new members] are coming together as a team,” fellow senior and mock trial attorney Rena Kim said.
Both Kim and Kletter agree that Secret Santa is a memorable activity they foresee continuing within Menlo’s Mock Trial team. “It’s a fun way to bring the team together and get people more connected to one another,” Kletter said.
