The Interact Club has hosted the “Santa’s Arrival” event at the Marco Island Academy campus for the last four years. On November 28th, MIA students came together to prepare for the event later that day. Just like previous years, it has once again been another wildly successful turnout. MIA strives to put smiles on children’s faces with this fun and festive event, motivating volunteers to exert holiday cheer in every breath and step. 

Kids of all ages attended, ranging from babies to teenagers, their whole families attending to get a glimpse of the Christmas spirit. With multiple different stations set up to incorporate some holiday activities into the evening, everybody got to decorate cookies and rock their face paint. With Santa and Mrs. Claus arriving in the end, memories were captured forever with a snap of a camera. 

Our Marco Island Academy cheerleaders showcased their hard work and talent at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting on December 6th, perfected over weeks of practice. This intricate performance was Student-choreographed by the captains of the season, and then fine-tuned by the coaches. Lily Chiscavage, a senior captain, describes the night as “..so fun and I’m going to miss it so much, it’s my favorite part of the year.” 

This is the first year that the team put up stunts during the dance, leaving the show off on an impressive and strong end. The team worked hard to give the performance that was put on that night and were all very proud of their work.

On the early evening of December 13th, students and staff from Marco Island Academy met up near the local YMCA, preparing to march in the parade. This year, participants in the parade planned a theme for the MIA section: Wicked. 

In order to honor the release of the second movie the month prior, everybody in the parade rocked either green or pink, the cheerleaders wearing striped socks to blend in. Overall, it was a very fun night with students involved in sports, drama, and Christmas cheer handing out candy to the audience.

A tradition that really marks the start to Christmas at MIA is the annual door decorating contest. This fun and competitive event is organized by the Student Government Association, with the theme being Christmas Songs this year. 

Home block, “mentoring,” classes put their ideas together to try and win the title of “best door” for the year. This year, Mr. Dayett and Mrs. Walther tied. The tiebreaker ended up being whoever could race out and sing their assigned christmas songs first and the overall winner turned out to be Mrs. Walther with “Feliz Navidad.”

Irwin the Elf was a new addition to the MIA family this December. A friendly competition between students was to find this Elf. The first person to find it would report it to the principal, Miss. Scott, then collect their prize. Amanda Fonseca, a winner of the contest, says that “…it was so exciting to find the elf, I can’t believe I got it first.” 

Irwin was usually spotted in the early hours of the morning, making it highly competitive and a challenge to get to him and snap a picture for proof before anybody else can.

For the holidays, the Interact Club came up with a fresh idea for this year to surprise teachers and end the first semester on a cheerful note. Teacher gifts are an annual thing but this year, members of this club chose their teachers and worked on customizing wreaths with things that they like.

These personalized wreaths put a smile on all faces of  those who received them. Teachers are now excited to see what’s in store for next Christmas.