Chinese New Year, Ash Wednesday, and Valentine’s Day Overlap at AHS in 2024

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If you’re only day to visit this school was Wed, February 14th, you could have seen some students with Good L’oven Cookies from a Valentine’s Day Sophomore fundraiser, other students with ashes on their foreheads as part of a Catholic tradition to start the season of Lent, and close to 100 students at the end of the day returning from a Chinese New Year’s field trip.

*Class Officers Grace Ermlich and Jack Blaser dropped off cookies to Mr. Tuffiash’s LEAD in room 209. The Sophomore class reached about 1,000 dollars from this year’s cookie fundraiser.*

Starting January 31st, the Sophomore Class offered a Good L’Oven Cookie fundraiser. Staff and community members received an e-mail with the following:

The Avonworth High School Class of 2026 will be selling Good L’Oven Cookie Grams for Valentine’s Day to students/faculty/staff in grades 7-12! Each individually wrapped Cookie Gram is $3 and will include a cookie and a message for someone special – or yourself! They will be delivered in school to the recipients on February 14th.

Please fill out THIS FORM one time for each Cookie Gram that you would like to order and make sure all required questions are answered. Orders will be accepted until February 8th and thank you for supporting the 10th-grade class at Avonworth High School!

For a number of students, the day marked the beginning of sacrificing a favorite food, drink, or activity as part of the Catholic tradition of observing Lent. The BBC reported on Lenten observations by stating: “Christians believe that this is to represent Jesus Christ’s sacrifice when he went into the desert to pray and fast for 40 days before later dying on the cross.”

“It’s special that {Lent and Valentine’s Day} is on the same day – to me, this represents love – and that’s really important to me,” said Junior Emma Suto.

The overlap of religious holidays and secular holidays also meant a number of students had homemade candy and gifts while also having ashes on their forehead, like Emma pictured above.

Others, such as Juniors Sydney Savatt, Fiona Mahan, and Karly Krul, planned pink outfits for Valentine’s day.

For another group of students, they joined Ms. Li’s Chinese 1 and 2 classes on a delayed Chinese New Year field trip to Pitt’s campus and a buffet lunch at Hokkaido Seafood Buffet near the Waterfront.

The winter weather, in the 40’s with a windchill, had an impact on the tour. “It was great to see the area…but it was very hard during the Pitt tour because of how cold it was. The food (at Hokkaido) was actually good this time.” said sophomore Jackson Krul.