This winter season at Brighton High School, teachers participated in a doorway decoration challenge. Teachers were tasked with decorating the doors and hallways outside of their classrooms in some sort of festive way. There were many different decorations celebrating many holidays and themes such as Christmas, winter, Kwanzaa and more. Many of the teachers had students help decorate their displays, contributing more excitement to the student body. On Thursday, December 19, the administration conducted a vote to determine the top three best hallway decorations.
In third place was Mrs. Ivers and Mr. Cunningham with their “We Igloo You a Happy Holidays” display. They built an igloo-like structure with students entering the see-through wall into their festive doorway. In between the two doors were Christmas decorations, such as stockings and a small Christmas tree. Ivers and Cunningham both expressed excitement at winning third place.
“We were excited. We did better than we thought we would do. We didn’t have any expectations; we just did it for fun,” they said. “The whole point of this contest was to increase holiday spirit before break. We just want everyone to have a nice break and come back rested.”
In second place was Mrs. Buchanan and Mr. Matousek with the “Holiday Igloo Inn.” They collaborated to build an igloo using Amazon boxes brought in by students, which they wrapped in white paper to make them look like chunks of snow; on the opposing wall, they created a large mural. When entering the Igloo Inn, students were presented with a crackling campfire displayed on a chromebook.
“I’m extremely happy with how we did. I didn’t think we would be able to get the igloo together in time. However, the main prize was seeing the students help build this together and appreciate the work every time they enter our classroom,” Matousek said.
In first place was Mr. Carney and Mrs. Marzonie with a “A Carzonie Holiday Movie Festival.” There were so many different aspects to this decoration. Famous Christmas movie posters were photoshopped with many teachers’ faces, including Mr. Carney, Mr. Beaton, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Christiansen and others. Painted on the walls were murals of different shops located in downtown Brighton, including Captain’s on Main and 2 Dandelions Bookshop.
“We truly embraced the theme of the contest. We used digital media, and we painted,” Carney said. “But it’s hard to not team up with an amazing art teacher like Mrs. Marzonie and totally crush it.”
While these decorations earned acclaim from both students and the administration, there were others that caught the attention of the student body, specifically one made by the health teacher, Mrs. Goyt, titled “Evans’ Elves.” The display depicted the head principal, Mr. Evans, as Santa Claus. On his left was a number of elves with the faces of every teacher at BHS.
Mrs. Goyt said that she got the idea for “Evans’ Elves” from one of her students.
“It was one of my students, Faith Finnerty; she said we should call it Evans’ Elves. And I was like, okay, we can print out elves, but it made sense to have all the staff members’ faces on the elves. So we searched for their faces online, printed them, and then cut them out. Then another student came up with another idea to print Mr. Evans’ head big and have him say his staff ‘sleighs.’ We just wanted to be funny,” Goyt said.
Though Goyt didn’t get top three, she is still optimistic for next year.
“Well, some of our decorations fell off the wall and we just recycled them. But, we feel okay we didn’t win,” Goyt said. “Next year, we will bring it! So look out next year. And also we [will] pay more attention to the rubric.”
Members of the BHS administration recognize how the hallway decorating contest helps promote holiday cheer, even as restlessness sets in before winter break.
“I think teachers and students did a great job with it this year. [It is] something that’s pretty easy for us to do and something that’s fun—a way for the community to come together, still focusing on teaching and learning, but it was great to see so many people participate,” Evans said.
This year, students and staff went above and beyond on their decorations, and it was so exciting to see new things pop up around the hallways every day.
