In spirit of the holiday season, teachers and their fourth period classes participated in the school-wide, annual door decorating competition from Dec 1-7. The grand title of first place was awarded to Miss Barbeau of Room C-110, last year’s reigning champion. Second and third place were won by Mrs. Durkee of Y-1 and Mrs. Vangama in ROP-2 respectively.
The competition was slow to start, and the majority of the doors were bare on the first Wednesday and Thursday. Once the weekend had passed, however, the teachers and their classes had finished their preparations and adorned their individual doors.
“I hardly saw any decorated doors the first few days, so I thought the competition wasn’t really going well,” senior Attaley Hernandez said. “But then, I saw a lot of teachers put up a lot of really nice pictures and decorations after the weekend.”
The winning teachers, however, went above and beyond in their ornamentation. Miss Barbeau’s class, located at room C-110, created a 3D display of a snowman in California. Her door, which had a sky blue background, was covered by a massive snowman made out of puffy cushions. Beside the snowman, there was a palm tree whose jagged fronds hung off of the door. The trunk was clothed with felt and entwined by multi-colored Christmas lights. To the right of the snowman, there was a signpost that swung off of the door, conveying a “Happy Holidays” to the entering students. Her seasonal, yet tropical, display attracted wide attention from the student body.
“Every time I walk by Miss Barbeau’s room, I feel really jealous that I don’t have her class!” senior Rebecca Velasco jokingly said.
Second place winners Mrs. Durkee and the denizens of Y-1 fiercely competed with Barbeau’s pop-up display with their own extremely inventive and tasty design. The door showed a snowy landscape filled with snowmen. Each snowman, which was made out of marshmallows, pipe cleaners, and winter fresh gum cases, uniquely represented each student in the class. There were two Christmas trees in the landscape as well, and they were ingeniously created. By attaching multi-colored cotton balls and string, the students turned green, triangular wizard hats into festive Christmas trees. Mrs. Vangama’s third place class in ROP-2 decorated the entire stretch of their bungalow as a Christmas fireplace. The entire wall is coated with brown butcher paper, painted to resemble bricks, and the entirety of the window is covered by a construction paper scene of a crackling fire and a gift-entrenched tree. There are even real ornaments dangling from the tree and fireplace.
“I expected the J building to have tons of really detailed decorated doors, but it was really the Z’s and C’s that shined this year,” senior Breana Alcantara said.
The competition may have gotten off to a late start, but the skill and creativity of its contenders shone brightly in the end. As winter break fast approaches, the winning classes will be able to enjoy their rewarded food parties and end 2010 with a sense of pride.