Bad air from fires leads to postponement of outdoor Movember activities

The school’s Movember event, which started on Nov. 5 and was meant to end on Nov. 20, was extended due to the recent fires and hazardous air quality that took place in the week before Thanksgiving.

Inflatables Day, scheduled for Nov. 19, Turkey Trot, scheduled for Nov. 20, a hula-hoop activity and the English Department’s outdoors walk were postponed or canceled due to the poor air from the fires that sometimes reached well over 200 on the Air Quality Index in Saratoga. (Information about New dates for the events were not available as of Nov. 26.)

Movember is a schoolwide event planned by ASB and the administration. This Movember, unlike previous years, gave clubs an opportunity to participate with their own booth or activity, hosted all around the school in the quad, upper field, lower field and orchestra room during tutorial and lunch.

“The purpose of Movember is to destress high schoolers through the means of physical activities, and to have fun in general,” junior class president Emma Hsu said.

Senior ASB president Roshan Verma said that ASB wanted  to involve clubs in more activities because clubs are an integral part of campus, and said this mutual involvement would create a closer school community rather than each club’s being a separate entity.

“We believed that the best way to promote a message of a healthy lifestyle was to do so through the clubs because for a lot of people, they dictate a large part of what they do in extracurriculars and at school,” Verma said.

Interact Club, for example, did a push-up activity in the quad on Nov. 7, and Korean Club taught students K-pop dances on Nov. 8 in the small gym.

The president of Korean Club, senior Miya Uenaka, said that Movember was a great way to further promote the club and even prepare for more activities that will happen later on in the year.

Korean Club’s event, a private K-pop dance lesson during lunch, had a small turnout as Uenaka had expected. However, the five students who did participate are now also joining their future Asia Fest performance, proving the Movember activity to be beneficial in the long run.

Uenaka added that Movember can also be beneficial to students’ well-being.

“Movember can relieve stress off of students by getting them active and thinking about their health instead of their next test,” Uenaka said.

Some teachers, such as Spanish teacher Sarah Voorhees, provided extra credit for those that participated in certain events.

“I figured if students could get out in the fresh air and move around, plus gain some participation it is a win win situation,” Voorhees said.

Senior Divya Aggarwal was one of Voorhees’ AP Spanish students who attended the foreign language department’s hacky sack activity on the upper field. She said it was nice to see her peers relax and have a good time at the activity.

Verma agrees with this mentality of increasing exercise and health in students’ lives.

“It’s important for people to realize that everything they do should be in the pursuit of healthy and successful life,” Verma said.