A few weeks ago, starting on December 2nd, Westmont had its annual Winter Wishes week! Each year ASB organizes a week of winter-themed lunchtime activities and spirit days, and grants hundreds of winter wishes. The process of planning this week starts early in the school year with its main fundraiser. The Moonlight Dinner is an event hosted at Westmont to raise money for winter wishes and entails an evening of food, entertainment, and auctioning. After the dinner, ASB collects wishes from the school and plans out a budget to be able to grant as many wishes as possible with all the money raised. Thanks to all of our generous donors and fundraiser attendees this past year, we were able to grant over 250 wishes in total!
The spirit days this wish week were the classic pajama day, fuzzy socks—croc or birkenstocks day, ugly sweater day, New York attire day, and Alpine vs Valentine day. During lunch, students participated in cookie and ornament decorating, hot chocolate drinking, and snowflake making—all while listening to holiday tunes! Throughout the beginning of the week many wishes were distributed to students in their classes. Some asked for thoughtful gifts that they could give a friend or family member, others wished for laptops and supplies they need to succeed in school, and many students asked for their favorite foods. Aside from wishes granted publicly, many students were given essential grocery money for their families in private, to help them afford an enjoyable holiday season. The Winter Wishes program truly plays an important role in serving the community and giving back to our students who need it most.
On Friday of Winter Wishes week was the assembly. For the first time since Covid, the assembly was held in the gym. Previous to the pandemic, all Wesmont students were able to fit into the gym at once, but as our school has grown in numbers, that is no longer possible. So, to accommodate, the assembly was split into two parts. Half of the school attended the first assembly in person and then the other half came in person for the second assembly. For those not attending the assembly in person, there was a livestream to watch in the classrooms, put on by the amazing Digital Filmmaking class and Timothy Yang! This schedule made it challenging for ASB to plan out their wish presentations and make sure every recipient was present in the gym, but they managed to grant some really meaningful wishes that brought tears to many students and family members’ eyes. To watch a recap video of wish week click here: …
If you were not able to submit a winter wish this year make sure to keep an eye out in mid October next year for an email from Laura Saldana that has a link to a google form to submit one! You can also follow @westmonths on Instagram to keep up to date about the Moonlight Dinner and next year’s Winter Wishes.