For the first time in decades, Thanksgiving Happening is undergoing significant changes. This year, the event will take place a day earlier than usual on Tuesday, November 26, and the following day the students will not have school. The students and faculty will end their normal schedule early on Tuesday, reserving the final two periods for Thanksgiving Happening. This new time slot shortens the event from four to a little under two hours. 

Additionally, the upcoming Thanksgiving Happening will introduce a new set of crafts.

Thanksgiving Happening has been a MFS tradition that brings together students of all ages to participate in service-oriented activities. Past activities include making paper flowers, designing placemats and creating turkey bags.  The new generation of crafts includes paper pumpkin weaving, a turkey decoration on paper bags, paper pumpkins, paper trees of thanks, and seventeen-letter flags.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             But the mainstay of Thanksgiving Happening — donating the finished decorations to charities —  remains intact.

Melissa McCourt, a member of the Thanksgiving Happening faculty committee, explained the reasons for these changes. This year’s Thanksgiving Happening format change functions “to give people an extra day to celebrate being home with their families” as well as “to prepare for their celebrations” at home. McCourt then added, “some adults … recognized that we [the MFS community] have been doing some of these crafts for a long time …”  and “some of the crafts seemed … incomplete or unfinished … We [MFS] wanted to be sure that we were creating crafts that would really beautify a space.” 

In addition to faculty members, students also weighed in on this change. Many students who have participated in the event in the past are excited for new traditions. 

Janiah McRae ’22 said, “I think this change will be better because more people will attend and get the full experience of Thanksgiving Happening. It also kicks off break in a better way than having half a day.” 

Meanwhile Lisa Seiler ’21, a new student at MFS this year, is excited to experience the anticipated event for the first time. Furthermore, Seiler is from Germany and she is excited to experience her first Thanksgiving: “Back in Germany, I already knew that Thanksgiving is a really big deal here in the U.S. because I’ve seen it in movies and heard stories about it. I’m really excited about what is going to happen and [to see] how exactly you celebrate Thanksgiving.”