by Adam Elitzur
On Tuesday, May 4, junior Adam Berkowitz, student government co-chair of the food and facilities committee, and president Drew Wilenzick organized a school-wide pretzel celebration day.
Q: What is National Pretzel Day?
Adam Berkowitz: National Pretzel Day falls on April 26 each year. The first Pretzel Day was celebrated in 2003 in Pennsylvania. To celebrate simply means to indulge in some pretzels, maybe trying a new kind of pretzel or baking a pretzel. The possibilities are endless.
Q: How did you hear about National Pretzel Day originally?
Drew Wilenzick: One of [Adam’s] ideas was to do these food holidays where it could just be a fun thing where we can celebrate. It’s a nice way to relax and enjoy yourself with a treat.
Q: What have we done at The Leffell School in the past for pretzel day?
DW: We have not done anything, but hopefully this is the beginning of a tradition.
Q: What did you plan for pretzel day this year?
AB: We purchased 300 soft pretzels and distributed them during lunch on May 4. The original plan, of course, was to do all of this on the actual holiday (April 26), but a shipping delay resulted in a postponement. We believed that even though we were celebrating on a different day from the rest of the country, we could still come to pretzel day with the same spirit.
DW: Everyone got a pretzel, and it was a great time. It was a fun day where we talked about pretzels.
Q: Why did you do it?
DW: The goal was for students to be happier and to improve their day. So if a pretzel or a treat is going to do that, then that’s what we want to do on the student government. I think that April, May and June are getting close to the end of the year, and people have a lot of work, and it’s just a stressful time. I think that having these silly fun events is a great way to just have everyone take a breather and enjoy themselves. It’s a little silly, but that’s valuable.
Q: Who helped you make Pretzel Day celebrations at The Leffell School possible?
AB: I want to give a huge shoutout to everyone who helped make pretzel day a reality. First, we are so appreciative of all the support we have gotten from Jesus and the kitchen staff. They were so easy to work with in planning the event, and their work to store and heat up the pretzels was vital to the day’s execution. Next, thank you to Josh Ull and Sami Mazo for helping to point us in the right direction all throughout the planning process. Thank you to Karen Booker for being flexible with the updates to the daily bulletin announcements. Thank you to Nate Yellin for helping us with the budgeting aspect of the planning. Thank you to all the members of the food and facilities committee for doing the work to put this together. Lastly, the biggest thanks to Antonella for being the best!