At most high schools, the events that fill the calendar and the conversation tend to be athletic ones. Seneca High School has those, too. But two years ago, a group of students on the Student Superintendent Advisory Council looked at what wasn't getting recognized and decided to do something about it.

"A lot of the schools around us — like Morris — have to leave their campus to do things like vocational classes," said junior Gracie Smith. "But we're really lucky to have our wood shop here, our auto shop here, the ag shop, everything like that. And then we have people who are really talented in art and music, too. So this is just a way to give time to those people who have efforts that aren't athletic."

The event takes over the whole building. The art show runs in the cafeteria area. Student pieces fill the classrooms. The robotics team sets up their machines and walks people through them. The talent show happens in the gym — singers, performers, students demonstrating skills that don't show up on a scoreboard. When the community comes in the evening, the event moves into the auditorium.

"It's everywhere," said sophomore Hudson Hartwig.

The SSAC didn't set up a formal officer structure for Irish Fest. Instead, they assigned project-based leaders — different people heading different pieces. "We just select leaders per project," Hartwig explained. "Different people will be different leaders for different projects."

Both Gracie and Hudson are on that council. Gracie plays basketball, volleyball (her favorite), and track. Hudson is on the golf team and, each spring, in the school musical — he was the king in Cinderella last year and is playing Mike TV in Willy Wonka this year. Both of them are examples of the range Irish Fest is designed to celebrate.

When asked what the Seneca Way means to them, neither of them reached for an abstract answer.

Gracie: "The best part about Seneca is that we are such a personal community. Every teacher can have some kind of connection with a student. You can have a connection with your auto teacher, but also your art teacher and your math teacher. You're able to build relationships with everybody." She offered a simpler version for the person you'd meet on a Florida beach: "I can go to the gas station down the road, and the lady checking me out will know what sport I play. The lady at the post office knows my grandma. You feel like everybody belongs with somebody."

Hudson described it through the people who come from elsewhere. "You'll ask teachers who used to teach at different schools how different they are, and they'll say Seneca is so completely different. Even substitutes — I talked to one recently who came back and said Seneca is unlike any other place she's ever been."

Irish Fest is still young — last year was the first, this is the second, and the intent is to grow it. "It started out just small kind of things," Hartwig said. "Throughout the years, we can just grow it and grow it to make it even bigger."

The Seneca Way, as Hudson put it, "really has a spot for everybody." Irish Fest is where that spot gets made visible.