On September 27th, 2024, Campo’s German Club hosted Oktoberfest after school in the quad. It was a festive celebration in lieu of the two week festival in Germany that commemorates German culture, food and beer. The German Club offered food and drinks while music played in the quad. All students, including non-club members were invited to eat, drink and listen to the music playing.
Co-President of the German Club, junior Henry Termondt, was present at the festival interacting with people and helping set up. He thought that setting up Campo’s own Oktoberfest was a good way to “introduce people to German culture.” Another co-president, senior Michael Bower, mentioned that it’s important to host events like this because, “[Campo] is the only school in the district with a German program.”
Vice President, senior Helena Linnen, sincerely enjoys being a part of the German Club and has activity ideas to help expand the German Club: “We’re going to be doing a lot more activities this year compared to last year, and getting a lot more people involved in German cultural events.” Termondt agrees and says, “we’re planning on doing some more outside of school events in addition to the normal activities.”
Overall, the leadership members of the German Club thought the Oktoberfest went terrifically. Bratwurst, a German sausage, was the main food given away: “We started out with around 80 bratwurst and we ended up with about 6 of them” said Linnen. Considering how much food was given away to students, they believed it was a successful event. Bower said, “we were worried we were only going to be able to get through 50 sausages, but everything sold out way quicker than I expected.”
The German club’s meaningful connection with Oktoberfest inspired them to host this extravagant event to raise awareness for their club and German culture. Termondt expresses that, “it’s a staple of the German community.” He goes on to say it’s, “a symbol of German pride and German culture.” Bower shared another reason why it’s important to bring German culture here: “German culture isn’t really something that is as prevalent here as maybe other cultures and I just want to show that there is a lot there to enjoy.”
