What 2019 holds in store for DG Snowflake

Downers Grove Snowflake is an event for seventh-grade students, similar to Operation Snowball, that takes place every spring at one of the local middle school’s in Downers Grove. Due to a change in staff at the Downers Grove Township, the event will no longer be taking place.

Students from DGS and DGN are able to try out to be student leaders for the event, allowing many students to pursue their passion in helping others. Leading this event also helps many students at both high school’s get their foot in the door for leading other events.

DGS junior Reese Rhoads feels that being a Snowflake leader last year helped her be prepared for all the leadership opportunities she has had since then. Rhoads feels that having the opportunity to lead at Snowflake helped her develop skills she was able to use while leading this past Fall Snowball.

“Snowflake was just a little taste of the Snowball planning [process] and it was nice to get an idea of what it takes to lead a small group, plan skits etc. While Snowflake was only a [one] day event compared to Snowball’s two-day event, I feel like I was able to come to Snowball as a leader knowing what to expect in small groups and plan accordingly,” Rhoads said.

DGS sophomore Nick Schmidt-Bailey feels the same and is disappointed that he will not have this leadership opportunity to help him prepare for future events like Snowball.

“I wanted to be a snowflake leader for two major reasons. One was to help give the same experience to seventh graders that I [had at Snowflake], and the other was to almost prepare for applying [to be] a Snowball leader… I found it disappointing that [the event] was not taking place this year, as I had been very excited to apply and possibly lead with tons of my friends, ” Schmidt-Bailey said.

However, DGS Snowball rainbow adult Diana Benoist along with DGN Snowball rainbow adult Keith Bullock collaborated on responses to a list of questions. They feel that Snowflake leaders and Directors have the potential to show their skills at Snowflake in order to prepare for Snowball.

“Yes we do, especially since we invite sophomores (and sometimes freshmen) to lead our Snowflake event, and we typically select junior directors. These are students who often apply to be Snowball and/or Blue Crew leaders the following school year and it gives them a chance to learn and us a chance to see their abilities,” They said.

Due to this, the team is working on the creation of a training event that could take place in the spring to help future Snowball Leaders and Directors show the adults their skills.

“Because of this, we have been talking about creating a leadership training/experience this spring to take the place of Snowflake. We are only in the beginning planning stages, but will be seeking feedback from some of our Snowball leaders and directors as we move forward with planning,” They said

DGN senior and former Snowflake Director, Tess Foley, believes that the event is important to help seventh graders transition into a high school mindset. Foley did not have the opportunity to be a Snowflake participant and believes that if she did, she would have been more prepared.

“I think [Snowflake] is a very important program because seventh graders are about to join high school and I think the skills we teach at Snowflake are really important because they are things seventh graders should at least have a bit of knowledge of, and I didn’t get the opportunity to go to Snowflake and I think it would’ve benefited me a lot [as a seventh grader]. Just to have more knowledge about these topics is really important I feel,” Foley said.

DGS senior and another former Snowflake Director, Gabbie Muzykanski, feels that the event is important for the seventh graders to be who they want to be and to meet people that will attend their high school’s.

“As a middle schooler, it’s sometimes tough to find a place where you can truly be yourself. I think Snowflake allows for that — even if it’s just for a night. These kids meet others from schools in our area before high school, and some of the people I met at Snowflake are still my friends today,” Muzykanski said.

Another benefit of the Snowflake event is that it establishes an early knowledge of the D99 Operation Snowball program. Establishing the high school event at Snowflake makes those kids have been known to be more likely to attend the event when they become high school students.

“While we do not have any data to support this, we would say yes, based on only anecdotal evidence. We do often hear from Snowball students that they first became passionate about the program when they attended Snowflake,” Benoist said.

The DGS students are hoping that the event will make a comeback after this year and that they will be able to continue to make an impact on the middle school students in the area.

“My hope is that we can get the program up and running soon again, as it clearly has made such a huge impact on our middle schools,” Muzykanski said.