GWUOHS hosted its first ever holiday party with students from all grades last Friday at the K12 Zone. Students and teachers danced along to festive music from throughout the world, and clubs organized independent gatherings. 

The K12 Zone is a virtual campus designed for online schools to promote natural interactions between students. After entering the Zone with their avatar, students can walk around different parts of the virtual campus and optionally share their audio and video with other avatars in their vicinity.

Academic adviser Natalia Giraldo acted as the DJ of the event. She appreciated the role played by the Zone in facilitating the party.

“The Zone made this party,” said Giraldo. “The Zone allowed us to have a party that felt like an event you would experience in real life. We had music, games, socializing and most importantly fun. Students were able to connect freely and that made me so happy to see.”

The advising team also created a bingo board to encourage students to walk around and explore the Zone. The activities on the board included greeting someone they had never met before, playing multiplayer games and visiting various rooms in the Zone.

Using animation features available for their avatars, some students danced together in sync to the music.

“I think it’s really nice because you can kind of socialize with other people, similar to a regular school,” said senior Ava W. “Me and some other students have been dancing together and that has been super fun.”

Another element of the party was informal gatherings organized by clubs. The UNICEF Club gathered by the Zone’s playground area, and the leaders introduced their club to potential future members.

“”We want to take on opportunities to hold more events because this is our first year and we’re sort of still figuring out what works,” said junior Naima A., the club president.