Holi Festival concludes Link Crew’s week-long SEL celebration

END TO SEL WEEK: Mustangs jump for joy in the rain during the Holi Festival on March 10. Holi is a festival celebrated in India and a few other South Asian regions to commemorate the beginning of spring and a fresh harvest.

By Lily Mitchell

Executive Sports Editor

Costa’s Holi Festival took place on March 10 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on the baseball fields, marking the last day of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) week.

The festival was led by the St. Michael’s Project, a club started by seniors Simmy Multani and Simran Sethi. According to Multani, the two seniors started the organization after contacting the St. Michael‘s Hospital in New Delhi, India, which houses young girls who come from financially unstable backgrounds and don’t have access to education, nutrition, or housing. Costa’s Holi Festival helped raise money for the girls in India and acted as a club bonding event for the members of the St. Michael Project Club at Costa.

“We hope that this introduction of Holi teaches people at Costa about a new culture they previously didn’t know about and inspires students to be more open about sharing their culture with others,” said Sethi.

According to Multani, the main theme of the Holi festival was class colors. Each grade level was assigned a specific color of powder to throw. The color that was most visible at the end would be the winning grade. According to Link Crew coordinator Maddie Hutchinson, the festival, which was helped run by Link Leaders, was full of samosas, pizza, drinks, tattoos, and Bollywood performers.

“Our goal with the event was to expose students and staff at Costa to the beauty of Indian culture, and I think that’s exactly what we did,” said Multani. “The Holi Festival has boosted our club attendance and helped us establish our presence on campus as a South Asian club. It’s helped many kids at our school familiarize themselves with a culture that’s different from their own and be educated on traditions they’ve never heard of before.”

Holi Festival: Juniors Katie Hoff and Jessica Cavanagh smile for a picture during the Holi Festival on March 10. Holi marked the last day of Costa’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Week, which consisted of meaningful student-led activities for the Mustangs as they learned about the importance of social and emotional wellness.

Manhattan beach Unified School District’s (MBUSD) annual district-wide SEL Week, which took place from March 6-10, taught students about the importance of social and emotional wellness. According to Costa’s administration, SEL is acquiring and applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve goals, show empathy for others, establish supportive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

“The best part about SEL Week at Mira Costa is that it is student-led,” said district counselor Eliza Santarosa. “All the activities are student-generated ideas supported by faculty.”

On the morning of March 6, Link Crew Leaders helped kick off the week by passing out stickers that had messages on them, such as “be kind,” aiming to spread positivity amongst Costa students.

Festival of Colors: The Mustangs walk off the baseball field covered in colored powder after the Holi Festival. Costa’s Holi Festival was run by members of the St. Michaels Project, raising money for the girls in India who don’t have housing due to financial instability and lack of education.

“For SEL Week, I stood at the Peck gate and handed out stickers to everyone walking through,” said junior Aidan Tacinelli. “All of the stickers exhibited positive messages, reminding us of the importance of social and emotional wellness.”

The next day, March 7, the students’ homeroom teachers showed a “No Place for Hate Pledge” video and passed out an activity to go along with it. During office hours, students had the choice to either participate in a Beach Cities Health yoga class in the Pavilion Gym or visit the small theater to listen to guest speaker Bruna Zaun, a professional surfer who talked about how important focus and mental health is as a professional athlete.

“SEL is one of my favorite weeks in Link Crew because we get to connect with each other on an emotional level that we usually don’t see in school,” said senior Meghan Witherell. “I think it’s so important and interesting to dive into personality types and why people are the way they are.”

On March 8, all homeroom teachers played a three-minute meditation video led by the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Students could then take part in sidewalk chalk art to write positive messages in the Mustang Mall.

Hands up for Holi: Mustangs throw colored powder in the air during the Holi Festival on March 10. Costa’s Holi Festival was circulated around class colors. Each grade level was assigned a specific color of powder to throw and the color that was most evident at the end was the winning grade.

“We teeangers have so much going on in our lives, so it is important to clear our minds and spend moments with ourselves, which is something that SEL really emphasizes,” said junior McKenzie Krauch. “If you never take the time to do anything for yourself, that will poorly affect your emotions, and you can reflect those negative emotions on other people. You are not just helping yourself by focusing on social and emotional wellness, but you are helping others too.”

On March 9, another homeroom video explained the Holi Festival that took place on March 10. Students could participate in rock painting or listen to a talk on adversity given by school counselor intern Steve Walker. According to Walker, he talked about going blind and how it was one of the best things that has ever happened to him, ultimately tying back to the point that adversity can be a very helpful thing.

“Every guest speaker who visited Costa’s campus during SEL week did such a great job,” said Krauch. “I participated in almost every activity and loved every one of them as I was able to either spend time with myself or bond with my peers.”