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The Kids Who Won My Heart




I stumbled onto this local event completely by accident, when I came upon this tweetX from an artist:

@medimelancholy_  i'll be vending at centennial high school's otakufest in ellicott city MD
this saturday, april 13th!! i'm always happy to be back to this event, it's a cozy and delightful time run by amazing people. come check it out if you can!!!



Otakufest poster created by a member of Centennial's H.S.National Art Honor Society 


The event is Otakufest, to be held this Saturday at Centennial High School. Otakufest is an initiative of the Centennial High School Anime Club. The official description of the club at the CHS website reads:

To share an appreciation of Japanese culture and anime/related media.

Sounds serious. The definition of the word “otaku” seemed much more in sync with what I know about young people.


Definition from Merriam Webster online 


If this were a typical local event post, I’d be sticking to what, when, where, etc. you know:

  • Otakufest 
  • Saturday April 13, 10 am - 3 pm
  • Centennial High School 
  • Visit the event website for more information 
  • Purchase tickets

What will you find at Otakufest?

*ARTIST ALLEY
*RAMEN EATING CONTEST
*GAME ROOM
*VINTAGE COLLECTIBLES
*ART STATION
*COSPLAY CONTEST

But here’s where the members of the Centennial High School Anime Club slid right into my heart and tugged at the old heartstrings:

Our History

This club started 12 years ago with 8 like-minded kids crowded around a laptop in a deserted high school hallway. Today those kids are grad school students and that club is now over 50 people who gather around a projection screen. We could tell you lifetime's worth of stories about how we got here, but what matters is that somehow this small group of friends turned a simple high school club into something more: A place to grow potential (like those in our little army of artists), a place to be with friends, and a place to be ourselves.

Along the way our activities have grown as well. From a little Pocky after school and some Japanese lessons to full scale parties and gaming tournaments. In 2009, we gave birth to our brain child the Centennial High School Otaku Festival and we're hoping to continue this tradition far into the future 

Something about these words struck me. The writer looks back, celebrates the present, and looks towards the future. And at the heart of it all, this precious message:

…but what matters is that somehow this small group of friends turned a simple high school club into something more: A place to grow potential (like those in our little army of artists), a place to be with friends, and a place to be ourselves.

If you have high school aged offspring, or remember having them, or remember being that age, you know that these words reflect the deep, deep needs of adolescents. The history of the Centennial Anime Club is two short paragraphs and it is engaging and beautifully articulate. Perhaps I’m overdoing it here but this honestly made me a bit teary.

So now you know about Otakufest and a highly motivated group of teens at Centennial High School. You probably know that there are groups of kids just like this all over Howard County*: passionate about their interests, enthusiastic about making connections. Just catching a glimpse of them in action brought me immeasurable joy. 


Village Green/Town² Comments



*All school based clubs are supported by faculty advisors. Three cheers for them!

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