Super turnout at the Souper Bowl

Hungry from a long day of school and sports, hundreds of students flooded the cafeteria on March 5 to attend the annual Souper Bowl, which raises money for the art program. 

For a donation of $10, attendees received unlimited soup and a bowl handmade by advanced ceramics students. The event, organized by ceramics teacher Leah Aguayo ended up selling all of its 450 bowls.

The ceramics class dedicated about three weeks at the beginning of the school year and three weeks at the beginning of the second semester to craft the bowls, sophomore Brandon Hulme said. 

He took pride in being able to contribute.

“It’s fun being able to be a part of a tradition,” he said.

Sophomore Irene Chen said that it took two to three weeks to create each bowl with its own original design. To make the manufacturing process more efficient, certain students were assigned tasks for each bowl rather than having each person build a bowl from scratch.

Chen said “the China shop” became the nickname for the bowl-making process. Chen added that the cafeteria was so packed that the line for soup trailed out of the building.

“I gave some to my coach and he sent someone else on the swim team to come back and get more,” Chen said. “You could see everybody smiling and having a fun time… they had the hardest time choosing [their bowl].”

Aguayo felt the Souper Bowl could not have had such a successful turnout this year without the help of numerous volunteers, such as long-time volunteer parent Sarah Rothenberg, as well as science teacher Kellyann Nicholson, math teacher Rafael Alapont and Special Education teacher Cabot Weaver. 

“With everyone’s help, Souper Bowl 12 was a big success,” Aguayo said. 

Sophomore Michael Guo found his money to be well spent.

“I thought [the $10] was worth it because not only do you get a unique handmade bowl, you also get as many refills of soup as you want and you get to spend time with friends,” Guo said.

Guo, who consumed three bowls of soup to satisfy his hunger from swim practice, found the evening to be “a fun and delicious experience.”

“They did a really great job. The bowls looked great and hopefully next year they will be as high class as they were this year,” Guo said.