The Celebration of Lights, a relatively recent annual event hosted by the KSC Office of Student Involvement, returned to the L.P. Young Student Center on Thursday, Nov. 20, to light up the lobby as well as the flag room with luminaries adorned with messages of gratitude from students and community members leading up to KSC’s Thanksgiving break.
The event is meant to encourage the KSC community to reflect on what they are grateful for by creating luminaries made of paper bags with fire-safe, battery-powered candles that are placed inside. KSC community members are encouraged to write notes, shoutouts and expressions of the things that they are grateful for on the bags, which are then placed throughout the student center alongside a selection of snacks and beverages.
The Office of Student Involvement had planned on including a live musical performance, but was unable to do so due to scheduling concerns. Chock Full O’ Notes, KSC’s resident acapella group, performed during last year’s celebration, according to previous reporting from The Equinox.
According to Director of Student Involvement Jessica Gagne Cloutier, sharing a community-wide message of positivity and gratitude was the guiding ethos of the event.
“[The luminaries] have everything from people’s friends and family, pets, student organizations and even just their favorite snacks, but they are all things that people are thankful for. It’s supposed to be a testament to all the positivity that folks are feeling on this campus,” said Gagne Cloutier.
“We look at [Celebration of Lights] as a chance to close out the semester in a really positive way, celebrate the holidays and the changing of the seasons in a way that is really feel-good and inspiring,” added Gagne Cloutier.
This year marked the second inclusion of luminaries made by KSC’s Child Development Center (CDC), and the first time that children and participating families from the program made an appearance at the event.
Father and community member Tony Gontalees attended the Celebration of Lights with his child and expressed gratitude and support for CDC.
“[CDC is] an amazing thing to have in our community because there is a serious lack of childcare options around here, and daycares in the area are really hard to find. Most of them are full, and we found this one that was able to take care of our kids, which we are incredibly thankful for, and they offer a really good curriculum,” said Gontalees.
Master’s student Lily Gross made a luminary to express gratitude for her mother, and said that she is excited to spend the holidays with family.
“I made my luminary to give thanks to my mom, and I made it because of how thankful I am for her raising me on her own after my dad passed away, and because of everything she has done for me. I’m really excited that I get to see her for Thanksgiving,” said Gross.
“I’m also thankful that I’ll have the chance to see my cats,” added Gross.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
