As the winter season begins, Leadership has been planning various events and activities for the upcoming months.
Events including the Deck the Doors, the Winter Snowball Tournament which was formerly known as Peach Fuzz, the winter Pep Rally and Bonfire will be held in early January.

Since the return to school many of the typical school events have been modified due to factors such as social distancing to gender equality.

One of Annandale’s classic winter traditions is the Deck the Halls competition in which clubs decorate the halls of Annandale according to a specific theme.

This year, due to fire code, the traditional Deck the Halls contest has been discontinued.

The new contest, now known as Deck the Doors, will consist of W4 classes decorating the outside of their classroom doors according to a winter or snow theme.

W4 classes can decorate anytime between Dec. 6-16, and pictures of the doors will be submitted via Google Form. Judging will take place Dec. 17, with the winners announced on the morning announcements that day.
The boys volleyball tournament, which is now known as the Snowball Tournament went through the same name change that Powder Puff went through.

The reasoning behind this is due to the push for gender equality in FCPS, and in return the Leadership class came up with gender neutral events.

The Snowball Tournament will be taking place on Jan. 12, and the interest meeting will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 8.

Similarly to the Flag Football Tournament, grade levels will play against each other and compete in a championship game at the end of the tournament.

The winners of the championship will play against faculty members during the Pep Rally.

“I am so excited to participate in the Snowball Tournament because I want to have a memorable senior year, and I can’t wait to hang out with my friends at the practices,” senior Mateo Carrasco said.

Participants will be required to have physicals and show proof of full Covid-19 vaccination in order to participate.
Along with the Winter Snowball Tournament, there will also be a spirit week the week of Jan. 10 to 14. On Jan. 13, there will be a winter Pep Rally which will be held in the gymnasium.

“After the success of our Homecoming Pep Rally, we decided that we want to make our winter Pep Rally even more special and fun then before,” senior and Leadership president Laiba Javed said.

The Pep Rally will consist of activities such as a pie eating contest, a three-point basketball shooting contest and other classic Pep Rally events.

Following the Pep Rally, a Bonfire will be held on Jan. 14. The Bonfire is a new event to Annandale, but it is similar to the Homecoming Tailgate.

There will be food trucks, smores kits and a fire pit for students to huddle around with blankets, and it will be held on the field by the trailers.

Right after the Bonfire, the varsity boys basketball team will be playing at 7:30 p.m. against John R. Lewis high school. The game will be a white out.

In previous years, events such as the Pep Rally and Snowball Tournament have been held before winter break. This year, the events have been pushed until January.

Since the new school year has begun, many of the long-standing Annandale traditions have been slightly or completely altered.

Regardless, students are anticipating the winter events.