District 203’s “#203Day” is a new annual event celebrating the district. #203Day is on Feb. 3, or 2/03, in order to spell out the District’s name.

District 203 partnered with the Naperville Education Foundation (NEF) to start the new district event and holiday.

“We thought how cool would it be to have an annual day where we could celebrate our school district,” said Alex Mayster, Executive Director of Communications at District 203. 

Having started in 1972, District 203 is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. 

“ We’re been looking at a lot of different ways to celebrate both us being here for 50 years and all the great things happening throughout the district,” Mayster said.  

Events and activities will be held before and on the day in celebration of the school district. 

“On the actual day, we’re planning a lot of fun things,” Mayster said. “We got some wristbands printed that say #203Day, we’re changing some of the lunch menu items to something fun [and] we’re having a proclamation from the city of Naperville.”

Individual schools are also planning their own ways of celebrating in their specific communities.

“Each school building will get to do what they want to do in their [own] communities to celebrate #203Day. So they sort of have free rein in their buildings to find how they can best celebrate in their community” said Wendy Goettsch, Executive Director of NEF. 

NEF is accepting donations at this time along with positive messages about the schools and people of District 203. People can donate to NEF and share how District 203 made a positive impact in some way. 

“When people leave their comments when they make a donation we’re going to take those and put them out on social media and on the websites,” Mayster said. “While we’re celebrating #203Day internally, we want the community to feel like they’re part of it too.” 

The idea was originally created by the NEF foundation in partnership with District 203 and took inspiration from previous “High Five Days” and university “giving days.” 

“We have had in the past, some ‘High Five Days’ where people can donate and then also leave a note of thanks and gratitude. One of the best things that we saw with the ‘High Five Days’ are those comments of happy moments or memories that people share. They’re really meaningful and impactful. [#203Day] is kind of a take on that but it’s also [because] a lot of universities do a ‘giving day’” Goettsch said.

Students can participate by using the hashtag “#203Day” and are encouraged to find their own ways to celebrate. 

“[Students] can participate by wearing the bracelet [and] in their own clubs or activities they can find a way to celebrate,” Goettsch said. “They should post on social media with the hashtag so if a club is looking for a way to bring some of their members together and come up with some really kind of fun things.”