Most people in the Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect areas need to wait for the Fourth of July in order to attend the famous carnivals like Frontier Days and the Fourth of July event Melas Park hosts.
However this year, Prospect students get a preview of summer and the carnival season with ASB’s very own carnival happening on May 17 right after school from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The carnival is to take place in the large field or ‘front lawn’ by circle drive. The event is to have games, prizes, rides, student bands performing and a Kona Ice truck, shaved ice being the only thing students have to pay for.
English teacher and ASB advisor Danielle Luka addressed that she loves the fact that ASB gets to create opportunities like this for students.
“One of the benefits of ASB as far as what we are able to provide for the school is that we are able to give a lot of opportunities for events that are free,” Luka said. “And that was something that we really wanted to keep in mind … removing the cost factor is a lot easier for everyone.”
Luka explained that the inspirations for the carnival were the last scene of the musical movie Grease, where the high school students are at a fair, and the popular carnival, Frontier days. Luka explained how cool this opportunity is, to bring a movie scene to life.
“The fact that we’re bringing a carnival to school is just gonna be fun because it’s not gonna be a couple games and then that’s it like it’s kinda gonna be a big thing. So [the other ASB planners and I are] excited,” Luka said.
An event like this did not come without a fair share of planning. On April 11th, after administering the SAT, Luka and Michelle Fonsino, another ASB advisor, got together to figure out what they wanted at the carnival and to look at the list of vendors Associate Principal Frank Mirandola provided them with.
Luka, Fonsino and the other ASB advisors involved also asked for student opinions on whether other students would find the carnival fun and when and where it would happen.
Junior and ASB member Alexandra Karkowski was among these students and specifically got to participate in making advertisements for the carnival.
“Personally I liked making the ads, I just think it’s so fun to just advertise it and create hype videos … and just see what you can make that’s a little different from just a normal Canva informational [poster],” Karkowski said.
According to Karkowski and Luka, the intention of the carnival is not only to be an end of the year celebration and preview to summer, but also a fun event students can easily stop by and check out on their way out of school that Friday. With the carnival ending at 4:30 p.m. students who take the late bus still have an option for transportation.
With options for transportation, and the fact that the carnival day is the seniors’ last day of school, Karkowski and Luka hope that all students can enjoy the event.
“I’m just excited to see … everyone walking around actually playing the carnival games and going on all the different activities we have set up … if they’re laughing or just being excited,” Karkowski said.
