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Camryn Fredrickson

Senior Manvi Srivastava applies a henna stencil on freshman Rithika Pasupulate. "A lot of people will think [henna] is just a religious thing," senior and Multicultural Society president Zeeya Merchant said. "But no, not at all. It's a cultural thing that can be shared with everyone." The booth raised approximately $100.

To cherish holiday traditions on ‘The Hill,’ the Arts and Crafts Fair was hosted for the fourth year on December 9, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students, teachers and community members alike had the opportunity to showcase their creativity and sell their art. 

Seniors Parker Sears and Sarah Suen, students of AP 3D and Ceramics classes, each participated as vendors. As Sears was out of town and could not attend the event, she joined forces with a friend, Mia Reyes, to create a shared booth and split the cost as a result. Student artists must pay $50 and out-of-district vendors $100 to account for the visibility the booth provides. The vendor fee proceeds will go to Walnut Grove’s National Art Honor Society (NAHS) chapter, supporting the growth of the new school’s art department. 

“I’ve been to the craft fair previously and I just love seeing the whole community come together and seeing all the different, creative pieces,” Suen said.

Suen made approximately 40 pieces in hopes of profiting off her hard work in ceramics. Her pieces include donut themed shaped flower vases with multicolored and marbled glaze, bowls and plates of different size and color and decorative trays resembling foods.

“All my items are priced from $10 to $30 depending on how big they are and how long it took me,” Suen said. “The donuts are $20 since those took the longest to make. It was a lot of trial and error, but now they can actually hold water.”

While the individual booths make their own profit to take home, there were several Rock Hill groups participating to raise funds for events and resources. One of these groups is the Multicultural Society, a club on campus meant to celebrate the diversity of our community.

“My freshman year, Ms. Chacchia told me this arts and crafts fair was happening so why not add a cultural component? It started off really small the first year because I exhausted all my connections,” senior and Multicultural Society President Zeeya Merchant said. “Now it’s a full thing with food tasters, cultural clothing, trifolds, videos, performances and a henna booth.”

Merchant and her team not only stayed late Friday night after school to prepare, but arrived at 8 a.m. to set up. The culture fair extended across the school, informing attendees of different cultures and providing an immersive experience for all. At the high tables at the front of the cafeteria was a ‘pin it’ board with the world map where guests and students were encouraged to put a sticky arrow on where they’re from.

“At 9, we had Khloe [Dominique Salpid] come in to set up the auditorium. Then the two eight-year-old girls that I teach ran through their routine along with Bollywood before the performances started at 10 o’clock,” Merchant said. “We also had Semi sing a Nigerian song and the clarinet choir performed as well.”

In addition to performances and shopping, visitors were also given the opportunity to embrace their own creativity through decorating ceramics. Rock Hill NAHS hosted a pottery painting workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in order to help pay for their induction ceremony in January of 2024. 

“I joined ceramics because I love functional but creative pieces of dishware and wanted to create my own to enjoy and hopefully sell,” Sears said.

Each Rock Hill group had a chance to shine at the day-long fair. The Arts and Crafts Fair initially draws people because of the unique ability to shop original gifts before the holidays, but the event has much more to offer than meets the eye. 

“I love when people come to look at the booths,” Merchant said. “Sometimes you’ll see little kids tug at their mom like ‘Mom, look!’ and they get engrossed in it. My favorite part is probably the henna booth because we get to spread our culture to everyone while having fun.”