On Halloween, the usually- united MMA student body breaks into many different factions to battle each other in an ancient ritual. Strangers to the school may see this phenomenon as a ghastly experience, while Merion views it as the beloved Weenie Roast. 

On Weenie Roast day, celebrated on Halloween every year, classes are canceled, and students come attired in their various Halloween costumes. Every homeroom spends the first part of the day practicing  and finalizing  their skits, which they will perform in front of the whole school. Each homeroom bases its  skit around the annual Weenie Roast theme and a connection to a mercy core value. This year’s theme, “Let the Games Begin,” focuses on the Mercy Core Value  “Compelled by Mercy.” Everyone in the school gathers around and watches all the homerooms perform their skits with special guest appearances from teachers and GMM. Then, in the middle of the day, grilled hotdogs are served to everyone for free, hence the title of the day being called Weenie Roast. After and during lunch, classmates are encouraged to mingle with each other and engage in Halloween activities and games. At the end of the day, the winners of the weenie roast skits are announced to the whole school. Winners are picked by impartial judges who are usually faculty or staff members who have not seen the skits prior to the Weenie Roast and do not have any bias towards any homeroom. Five winners are picked, one for each grade and one overall school winner. The feeling of being a winner is a joy that all of Merion’s homerooms want to experience, but like any competition only a few will get to know it. 

Winning Weenie Roast can be broken down into an equation to solve a problem. There are certain variables that if considered correctly will almost ensure the guaranteed win of Weenie Roast. There are four main variables to acknowledge in the fight to win the Weenie Roast: creating an organized skit, having a clear connection to the theme, ensuring that the skit is simple, and making certain that the skit evokes some strong emotion out of the audience.

1. An organized skit is essential to winning Weenie Roast. Just like a play/book would have an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution; a homeroom’s skit should have those qualities as well.. With an organized skit, the audience can easily follow along with the performance and understand lessons from it. 
2. Having a clear connection to the theme is also essential for  winning Weenie Roast. In fact, ensuring a clear connection to the theme guarantees a chance of success. A few steps can be taken to make sure that your skit has a noticeable theme. Firstly, explicitly state the theme.  For example, last year’s winning freshman class created  a skit that showed students standing up for a girl who had the courage to confront hurtful attitudes in order to convey the  theme of “A Voice for Dignity and Respect.” 
3. Ensuring that the skit is simple is a forgotten, yet important part of winning Weenie Roast. Weenie Roast sets are meant to be fun and short, since there isn’t enough time allotted to each homeroom to perform. If a skit is complicated and hard to follow, the judges might not be hooked. This isn’t to say that ideas should be limited or students’ imaginations discounted, but remember who the audience is, and how much time is allotted to a given performance. Ideas can be both creative and easy to follow. 
4. Finally, to produce the quintessential Weenie Roast skit that can make certain of a win is to make sure that the skit performed evokes a strong emotion in the audience. Such skits linger in the minds of the judges for longer, giving the skit the advantage of being judged favorably. It’s quite impossible to win Weenie Roast with an emotionless skit.

Despite the competitive lament, Weenie Roast is really  all about having fun with friends and taking time off of school to enjoy Halloween.  Good luck to all the homerooms participating in Weenie Roast, and Happy Halloween!