On Nov. 16, the Student Activities Committee (SAC) and the After Dark Committee (ADC) hosted the second annual Harry Potter Night in Stav and Holland Hall. “SAC was in charge of doing the caf, as well as the food here in Holland,” said Elizabeth Trewartha-Weiner ’21, the SAC Special Events Chair. They decorated the cafeteria to look like the fictional Hogwarts’ Great Hall, complete with four house tables, a high table, sorting hat and “floating” candles. The cafeteria served a Wizarding World-inspired meal in Stav and butterbeer over at Holland Hall.
In Holland, students, faculty and their children were welcomed into the Wizarding World. Each guest was given three gold coins at the door and could earn more by visiting stations and activities throughout the building. As they left, attendees could exchange their coins for a variety of treats, including gummy worms, tattoos, decal stickers and posters.
In addition to the delicious food, SAC was also to thank for the ping-pong Quidditch game, giant wizard chess and the sorting hat. The sorting hat, played by Mikkel Undlin ’19, had a long line, thanks to Undlin’s hilarious questions and persona. SAC also kept a running tally of Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, Muggles and Divergent – a little mix up of the young adult novels, but no one was complaining.
ADC went above and beyond creating a rather competitive trivia room and a potions room. Louisa, a six-year-old Gryffindor, said the hardest trivia questions were “the ones [she] really didn’t know” because she’s “only on the fourth book.” Not too bad for a six-year-old. She and her friend Willow Swanson were playing for Ravenclaw and still came out with 13 points. The trivia room and the candy prizes were the girls’ favorite parts of the evening.
The potions room was also crowded. It was a favorite of both Ravenclaw Isaac Griffin-Wiesner ’20 and Hufflepuff Abby Benusa ’20. They made a combination polyjuice and love potion, which they called a “love-juice” potion.
“The colors don’t mix well,” Griffin-Wiesner said. “It’s kind of a brownish-pink.”
The potions were a slime craft, made of glue, shaving cream and food coloring. Guests could also make Hogwarts house banners out of construction paper to show their house spirit.
Quite a few people turned out to taste the butterbeer and try their hand at trivia – it is safe to say this event was a success. In the words of Trewartha-Weiner, “Together we’ve planned this whole event, and so far, it’s been a pretty big hit!”
