On March 23, the Student Government Association pulled off their 41st annual Casino Night, a masquerade event. Students dressed up in their nicest button downs and formal dresses and gathered in the dining hall for a night of music, food and card games, all to benefit the United Way of Lamoille County.

Each year, the SGA reaches out to local businesses across northern Vermont to make a contribution to the prizes that students bid on in a grand auction at the end of the event.

This year’s biggest prizes included a $50 gift card to Ben and Jerry’s, a Vermont Teddy Bear and a Bash Badge from Smuggler’s Notch. Students had a blast, and many mentioned this being one of the best Casino Nights the campus has had.

Everything was beautiful and the event was well-organized. Decorations, lights and music filled the room. Students were given masks and a custom glass, designed by members of the committee, at the door. It appeared practically flawless, but nobody except three Johnson students knew the amount of work, budgeting and organization that went into this event, and the hours of meetings that were involved to make this event just right.

This year’s Casino Night Committee was made up of senior Katharine Abdel-Fatah and juniors Jessica Malskis and Dana Prouty. The team met each Tuesday night after the weekly SGA meeting to order decorations, make lists of potential donors and map out the set-up of the event.

The planning, beginning last fall, continued all of the way up until the Tuesday before the big day. It is clear that an event this large and spectacular could not happen without a strong leader and a passionate team.

Katharine Abdel-Fatah, better known by the Johnson community as Kate, is this year’s SGA Vice-President and the head of the Casino Night Committee. If it were not for her lists, detailed outlines of meetings and high expectations for herself and the committee, this event would not have been as impressive as it was.

When asked what her favorite part about planning for Casino Night is, she will tell you it is the list-making and bouncing off ideas with her committee. She admits she had a really great committee this year, to act not only as teammates in planning this event, but as a support system. This was Kate’s final Casino Night, and the SGA can only hope it was everything she had hoped it would be.

The Student Government Association proudly raised over $1,200 for the United Way of Lamoille County that night, sold over 200 tickets and had nearly 40 donations. These are numbers to be celebrated and proof that success comes with hard work.

A final thank you goes out to all of the faculty who participated as card dealers for the night, keeping the energy alive; the local businesses who contributed to such an amazing cause; and you, the student body, for making the event so full of fun and life.

We hope to see you again in the spring of 2019.