With a Parisian flair, the annual Blue Whale Cafe enveloped Upper School’s McCulloch Library with warmth and joy for a Valentine’s Day celebration of the arts. Last year’s event was canceled due to inclement weather, so this year’s event was more than ready for its comeback. The intimate, open-mic feel delivered a breathtaking amount of artistry from students, faculty, and staff. With improv, musical performances, spoken word, and more, there was something for everyone. The joy was two-fold for the participants in bringing art to the MICDS masses and supporting a charitable organization, all in one night.
Upper School Arts Teacher Patrick Huber said, “Some wonderful things happened in 2024, but the year felt off for some reason, and I realized that it was because we didn’t have a Blue Whale Cafe last year. This year, Blue Whale came back. I cannot express my thanks enough to the musicians, artists, teachers, and technicians who came together to make it happen. The decorations, the food, the design work, the lighting, the music, and everything all worked together to create my favorite night at MICDS. We captured the positive spirit that has typified this night for almost 30 years.”
Blue Whale Cafe was founded by the MICDS Environmental Club and Arts Council in 1995 as a student-led fundraising event to raise awareness of the importance of protecting ocean life. This year, more than $1,483 in proceeds supported Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation.
Students set the theme of a French cafe with a menu of faculty-made sweet treats, and many acts on the bill were perfect for Valentines and Francophones alike. Arts Council member Evie Strope ’25 said, “My favorite part of planning Blue Whale is always the day of the event! The process of the decorations, food, performers, and volunteers all coming together to create the final event is so amazing to see. I’m so proud of the show we put on this year, and seeing all of our hard work come together for the audience is so rewarding!”
As part of the planning committee, students have a unique behind-the-scenes view of all the moving parts. Mae Scott ’25 said, “What I enjoyed most about planning Blue Whale was watching it all come together and the amount of freedom for creativity I was able to use. Up until the very end, we did a lot of planning, but we were not able to see it until the actual Blue Whale event, so being able to see all of those months of hard work was really exciting. We were able to decide as students most of what we wanted to do, and since I was on the decorations committee for the day of, it was super fun to be able to have that freedom for creativity and then be able to see what all the decorations I put up looked like during the actual event.”
Special thanks and congratulations to Lainie Zimmer ’26 for designing this year’s Blue Whale logo and Everett Ott ’26 for creating the menu and program. Thanks also to the MICDS faculty and staff who served as ticket takers and ushers and managed the merch table and the front and backstage areas.
Upper School Arts Teacher Dr. Kevin Slivka shared, “The Arts Council, led by Evie, Pei-Pei Huang ’25, Eli Meissner ’26, Ellie Chen ’26, Natalie Benoist ’25, and Mae, was very organized early on in the planning process, developing the theme, implementing an Upper School logo competition, training servers, writing scripts, and altering the library into a veranda-esque space through lighting and decorations. Their timely management of the many moving parts in full collaboration with Mr. Huber and Ms. Trueman came together for a wonderful evening highlighting the talents of MICDS students and faculty.”
Huang added, “What I enjoyed most was seeing our community come together—the way teachers collectively baked and contributed goods, how they lent a hand to help us raise funds, and the incredible performances from so many talented students. I loved how Blue Whale showcased the diverse talents within our school community.”
Thank you to all who joined in celebrating the arts and giving back to environmental causes near and dear to our Ram hearts!
Photos by Patrick Huber and Morgan Macam ’26.