by: Ella Thomas and Christine Wu, staff writers
Galileo continued the annual tradition of Love Fest, a Valentine’s Day celebration, on Monday, February 14, 2022, in the courtyard during lunch. Each year, Love Fest has booths that feature different organizations that teach students about sexual wellbeing and healthy relationships.
Love Fest is hosted by the Wellness Center with help from Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) and Women Empowerment Club (WEC). There’s many organizations that’s involved with Lovefest including: Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC), Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), Planned Parenthood, Huckleberry Youth Health Center, San Francisco Women Against Rape, etc.
Love Fest has been running for at least 10 years. The Wellness coordinator Sydney Fisher, has been the coordinator for 6-7 years, and has been organizing the yearly event. Auxi, the community health outreach worker at Wellness was responsible for inviting local organizations to present this year.
Mr. Mendribil, the GSA sponsor sees Love Fest as an “educational opportunity for students to learn about sexual well being, healthy relationships, and a place to have fun.” His favorite part of the event is “seeing the click that Valentine’s Day is more than hearts and candy”, it’s also about celebrating healthy love.
Over the years Mr. Mendribil has noticed a change in the emphasis of certain topics, but the core of Love Fest has always stayed the same. This year did not have a main focus but the overall theme was healthy relationships and consent. Past years have been on things like cyberbullying or condoms.
This year, the festival included something new, ‘wellness bucks’ which are little tickets that students would get after every time they participated in a game. At the end, students would collect all their ‘love bucks’ and go to the prize table to receive their prize.
While a number of things have changed at Love Fest over the years, one activity that has consistently remained popular is the marriage booth, a place where you can get married to a person or any number of people you choose. Getting married at Love Fest includes rings, an arch to get married under,a certificate signed by a GSA member, and an officiant. Noel Childers, the GSA President who ran the booth, loves how Love Fest celebrates all different kinds of love, not just romance. The back of the certificate was designed by GSA stating, “Today in the USA, you have the right to marry whoever you want. However, discrimination still plauges many countries, even our own. Support and spread the word by celebrating our rights together!”
