By LAASYA UDUPA, junior (Originally published March 2022) 

ON MARCH 18, Hawkeye hosted their movie night featuring Turning Red, from 6-9 PM. Hawkeye Movie Night was a rousing success throughout the school, with a turnout of 140-150 people. This event is hosted annually by Hawkeye for both students and faculty to enjoy a movie and dinner with friends and colleagues.

The Hawkeye is the JP school newspaper, named after the school’s mascot: the hawk. While Hawkeye is a school-run newspaper, it consists of multiple departments such as a business department, a creative department, and a writing department. The writing department includes four sections that students can write and/or edit for. These sections are News, Opinion, Features, and Sports. Similarly, the creative department has two sections: art and photography. From writers and editors to artists and photographers, Hawkeye is a complex club consisting of multiple levels which add to its stellar school-wide reputation.

A great deal of planning from Hawkeye’s business board, editors-in-chief, and the many departments went into making the event into the success that it was. From printing and hanging flyers around the school to collecting food donations from restaurants to satiate the hunger of high school teenagers, an abundance of organization went into the movie night.

While the event was a team effort, each person had their own role to play in its success. As a requirement, each Hawkeye member had to purchase at least two movie night tickets and sell them to students or use the tickets themselves, at varying price points. Additionally, tickets were sold at the door for a higher price if not purchased beforehand from a Hawkeye member. Hawkeye members were also asked to donate extra items such as serving utensils and some snacks.

The movie night was a perfect way to end a stressful week of testing for Juniors, as well as regular assessments and other activities for all grades. Junior Manha Talib stated, “I really enjoyed Hawkeye movie night. I loved the opportunity to be able to have a delicious dinner, watch an interesting movie that I had wanted to watch, and be able to be with my friends.” Large quantities of food were brought from popular restaurants such as Olive Garden, Friendly’s, TGI Fridays, Wood Stack, Bahama Breeze, and more. The movie night was a triumph due to the wide selection of food available for attendees. There was pizza, spaghetti, mozzarella sticks, falafel, salad, noodles, wings, ice cream, cookies, and more delectable items at hand. Many drinks were also accessible such as different
types of ice tea, soda, and water.

The movie shown during the event, Turning Red, encompasses a variety of important stages in a teenager’s life including puberty and cultural expectations, with the added twist of transforming the main character into a giant red panda. Assistant Principal Mr. Robinson claimed, “the Hawkeye Movie Night was well attended by our students. It was clear that everyone had a wonderful time enjoying food and a fun film with their friends. I would like to thank all of the local restaurants for donating all of the delicious food for our students to enjoy.”

Ultimately, the Hawkeye Movie Night was an enjoyable and fun-filled night for many students and faculty, leaving a tumultuous precedent for future movie nights to come.