Posters in the MVHS rally court promote the hot cocoa event in the days leading up to it. Photo by Sannidhi Mennon.

On the morning of Oct. 19, freshmen students dressed in their pajamas waited anxiously in line. Link Leaders were gathered in the rally court, handing out hot cocoa to the Class of 2020. Link Crew hosted a pajama day and hot cocoa event where freshmen who came to school in their pajamas could get free hot chocolate in the morning. There were morning cartoons playing in the cafeteria where link leaders and freshmen could interact with each other.

“I think the whole purpose of this is to get people to be more social and talk to each other more,” freshman Tyler Liu said. “With everyone in one big place, people are bound to talk to each other and interact.”

In previous years, Link Crew made leaders go out individually to touch base with their link kids. However, that didn’t work out because it was hard for the link leaders to get in contact with their freshmen Link kids. This year, instead, Link Crew hosted the hot cocoa event as a way for all the link leaders and freshmen to gather in one place and socialize.
“Because it was kind of new this year, it was a fun approach to try. And it worked really well,” said Link Crew Commissioner, senior Hannah Phan.

These are the handmade invitations to advertise the hot cocoa event. Link Leaders hand these out to encourage the freshmen to attend. Photo by Sannidhi Mennon.

Link Leader junior Sara Nordby was shocked by the turnout of freshmen. The Link Leaders were tasked to find their freshmen and personally invite them to the event, but when Nordby went to look for her Link kids, she wasn’t able to find them. She expected the same to happen with the other Link Leaders. The next morning, however, she was happy to see the many freshmen in their pajamas, talking with each other and having fun.

Having simple fun things like pajama day and hot chocolate, I think it really makes a big difference just to make a more comfortable feeling, where the freshmen feel like they can just have fun and let loose for a little bit.”
“It goes back to the whole point of link is just wanting the freshmen to feel like they’re in a safe environment and they’re welcome at Monta Vista,” Nordby said. “And I think a lot of times, that gets lost because of all of the competitiveness that Monta Vista brings. Having simple fun things like pajama day and hot chocolate, I think it really makes a big difference just to make a more comfortable feeling, where the freshmen feel like they can just have fun and let loose for a little bit.”

Co-Reported by Ilena Peng, Nathan Stevens, and Sannidhi Mennon.