FunFest Takes YISS “Around the World”
On Friday, October 7, anticipation swept across the YISS campus as the decorations for FunFest transformed the campus and prepared the YISS community for an exciting trip “Around the World.”
FunFest is our annual festival of carnival games and activities, a teacher-sponsored raffle, delicious food, and lots of prizes. It welcomes the entire school community and serves as a great community-building event and fundraiser for our PTO and high school clubs. Funds raised by the PTO are channeled right back into our school for a variety of student enrichment and charitable programs.
For the first time since the COVID pandemic began, a full-scale schoolwide FunFest was held on campus, bringing together our students, parents, teachers, families, and friends! The lifting of the outdoor mask requirement made it even more special as smiles were visible and plentiful. In the early stages of planning, COVID restrictions cast a cloud of uncertainty on what aspects of the event would be possible. Rather than being discouraged, the FunFest Committee continued to plan and move forward in the areas they could.
Fortunately, regulations eased in time, and shortly after, the “world” descended on campus. In line with the theme, participants received “passports” to travel with and visit the 21 game booths organized by ES parents, along with several MS and HS game and activity booths. Throughout the event, pilots, flight attendants, explorers, and tourists excitedly traveled from booth to booth to earn “stamps” in their passports which were later redeemed for a chance to win a Lucky Draw prize.
Additionally, students enjoyed rolling in zorb balls, bouncing on inflatables, and entering the teacher raffle. The Dads’ Club returned to grill juicy burgers and hotdogs while our HS parents served classic Korean street food. Teachers, staff, and MS students entertained many who were enjoying a bite with vibrant music.
This year, the YISS PTO rolled out a new initiative in partnership with EcoSave encouraging everyone to reduce, reuse, and recycle - Guardians, Go Green! For FunFest 2022, volunteers were encouraged to upcycle items to create their games and decorations, cheaper disposable prizes were replaced by fewer higher quality ones, free water was available to those bringing their own tumblers, and a recycling station was set up in the courtyard to readily sort recyclable items.
The tremendous success of FunFest could not have been possible without the assistance of teachers and staff, room parents, grade reps, HS clubs, and our dedicated parent volunteers. FunFest was a wonderful opportunity for our community to connect and experience the joy of being together once again!