Valentine’s Day — the day of love. A time to surround yourself with those who make you feel cared for. At Pinewood, one of the annual Valentine’s day traditions includes sending candy grams to show your appreciation for your fellow classmates. This process is set up by Pinewood’s Associated Student Body, which is led by Director of Student Life Kyle Riches.

  Prisha Mohapatra, vice president of ASB, has been on ASB for two years, is managing the candy grams fundraiser for her second time. Students have the option of either giving a little heart-shaped chocolate box or sending roses along with a note to the person of their choice. The candy grams will be sold Friday Feb. 9, Monday Feb. 12, and Tuesday Feb. 13. They will then be passed out while students are in class during B period on Valentine’s Day. Mohapatra explains the deeper meaning behind delivering the candy grams.

   “It makes me feel so happy because it makes me know that people in the Pinewood community really care about each other and they love each other and they’re willing to spend a little bit of money just to brighten up their friends’ Valentine’s Day,” Mohapatra said.

   According to Mohapatra, when she has received candy grams in the past, she has felt really loved.

   Mohapatra explained that buying candy grams will lower the price of the tickets for different events including prom and other events sponsored by the student council.

   While these candy grams are a significant aspect of celebrating Valentine’s Day at Pinewood, there are a few more traditions such as dressing up in Valentine’s Day colors like red and pink and having spirit assemblies. This year on Valentine’s Day, the dressing up and spirit assembly tradition will continue and there will also be shadows on campus who will get to see these annual traditions.

   Riches also got to experience the Valentine’s Day candy grams from the perspective of a student. He stated that candy grams were a tradition when he was a student at Pinewood; however, he’s not sure when this tradition actually started.

   “It’s a fun way to spread joy and give people a chance to send their friends a fun note and little gift to let them know they’re appreciated,” Riches said.

   “We can just go around to each class and briefly interrupt the class to distribute all the candy,” Riches said. “It’s a really fun process.”

   Riches also explains what the funds of these candy grams go towards and describes that because of fundraisers like these, the student council can plan more events.

   “We have a general ASB fund that we dip into to help support all of the student council sponsored events,” Riches said. Even though this can be considered a fundraiser, we think it’s more about spreading joy and having fun for all of Upper Campus.”