On Thursday, December 14, Williston had its annual Holiday Banquet. The dinner, in the dining hall at 5:45, was followed by a dessert reception at Mr. and Mrs. Hill’s house

This is a time for everyone to get dressed up nice and eat a good dinner as a community before students all head home for Holiday break.

David Koritkoski, Associate Dean of Students, is involved in a large part of organizing this night, which began in 2013.

“I think it’s great, it’s a nice time and good moment at the end of the year in the middle of a term right before vacation to sit down and relax with friends and family to have a great meal,” Coach K. said. “Physical Plant is great as they do a lot of extra work to accommodate faculty spouses and children. In the end, there are 150 extra chairs in the dining hall. There is a significant amount of effort to get it done, but it is worth it.”

The dessert reception also started in 2013, but as something, “spontaneous and in the moment,” said Coach K. “Students just ended up at Mr. Hill’s house and started playing piano and singing carols. After that, it turned into a tradition for each year. Some people think that it is too crowded, but I think that that is something about it that makes it memorable and is why we should have it there.”

Tori Palumbo is a four-year senior at Williston.

“My favorite part of this night is seeing everyone dressed up and being able to eat a good dinner with all of my friends,” Tori said. “I also love hanging out at the Hill’s house. It is fun to hear all of the people singing carols and eating good dessert.”

Like Coach K mentioned, many people don’t like how crowded Mr. Hill’s house is at the dessert reception. “I hate the long line to get to the dessert. I wish there were two places where there were desserts,” Tori said. “I also get mad when I get to the back of the house, and my favorite dessert, chocolate covered strawberries, are gone!”

Christopher Couchon, Assistant Food Services Director, is a huge part in making sure this whole night goes smoothly.

“We start putting the plan and ideas together before November break, but most of it falls the week of and the week preceding which is when we all get together and finalize the menu with Ms. Noble and Mr. Koritkoski, and make sure our distributors can get us the items we need in time,” he said. “There are a lot of moving parts and it really does take our entire team here to get it all together and to pull it off. We would not be able to pull this off without everyone’s help,”

“My favorite part is the dessert reception at Mr. Hill’s house,” Couchon added. “It’s hard to describe how nice it is to see so many students of all ages from so many different parts of the world come together in such a warm and inviting place and just relax. You all work so hard and deal with pressures and expectations that I can’t even begin to understand and to see you have some time to throw that all to the breeze and just laugh, sing, drink egg nog, take pictures and have a good time is just awesome. When you get older, you’ll realize how few moments like that you got during your sprint to becoming an adult. It’s not even just my favorite part of the banquet, it’s one of my favorites of the year.”