On Wednesday, Nov. 15, fragrant scents of Indian dishes diffused from the patio, accompanying paper decorations that lined the colorful buffet table. This annual teacher’s lunch, hosted by parent volunteers, celebrated the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. 

“We started this [celebration] last year, [when] a couple of us moms decided ‘okay, let’s do something different to celebrate Diwali,’” parent volunteer Dhanashri Kondra said. 

Kondra acted as the lead parent organizer of the event. She coordinated the setup and takedown of the event, which included using monetary donations to purchase food from a restaurant, as well as collecting dessert donations from other parents. 

“Today went amazing, it was better to set up on the patio compared to the [last year’s] teacher’s lounge [location] because the teachers lounge [gets] more crowded,” Kondra said. 

Next year, Kondra and the other parents plan to continue the tradition of a staff Diwali celebration lunch. She also hopes for a day that the group can include students in the festivities as well. 

“It was really successful, and the faculty [tell us] they really want us to host it again,” Kondra said. “If we could do this at the student level in the cafeteria that would be nice, to let them celebrate Diwali as well.”