By Roshwitha Buduri, Staff Writer
With winter break a week away, National Arts Honor Society (NAHS) members have been crafting at teachers’ doors to make our halls into a winter wonderland for the next few school days. Their hard work every Thursday has created beautiful designs such as snow landscapes and 3D Christmas trees.
Before putting out the first line of decorations, Senior Zaina Chowdhury, the president of NAHS, hopes the decorations last for a couple of weeks. That way, the holiday spirit lasts both before winter break and lasts for a bit after. As for now, there are plans for the last doors to be done a week after the break is over as a last deadline.
Working on the decorations has been very rewarding. Chowdhury says, “Having weekly meetings and doing crafts has definitely left a great impact on mood, and this goes to show how important art is for relaxing the brain and spreading creativity.” That creativity has been spread through each handmade petal and paper wreath. She notes that by seeing everyone working hard together, she feels the spirit, too. “When I see everyone contributing and putting in effort, it makes all the hard work worth it.”
This craft is a great way to give back to the River Hill community and even brighten the days of any students and staff who pass by the decor. Mrs. Shagogue, one of the school librarians, comments on how she would feel while seeing future decorated doors. “I would be so happy walking in every day, seeing it. I’m looking forward to it bringing a little bit of joy. I think it’ll make me feel excited to come back at the end of break.”
Mrs. Shagogue had filled out the SignUpGenius on the NAHS website. For her request, she kept it open-ended. If she had a preference, it would be to keep holiday-centered decorations aside and have them generically related to winter. For example, she takes inspiration from the festivities in the media center itself. “This year, we’ve been decorating gingerbread houses around the media center, so I feel like that would be really cute. I like to stay away from things that are holiday-specific.”
She believes that having students involved in decorating parts of the building gives them a sense of pride and community. “I really think that having students involved in decorating parts of the building really showcases their talents and their sense of pride.”
Right after putting up decorations later on in the week, Freshman Lily Holt spoke about how door decorating allowed her and her friends, Sophia Matkovic and Oliva Mowatt, to demonstrate their talent. They signed up to decorate Mrs. Tokar’s door. She had specifically requested a snow scene.
“What we did was we drew swirls and a snow scene, and we cut up a bunch of paper snowflakes, which was really awesome,” Holt says. “The most fun part was, honestly, getting to draw the scene, the nature scene. We did a reindeer and a mountain-scape. I think that was really interesting to do.”
When it comes to the hiccups, Holt recalls time management being the largest bump in the road. “We started working on it for the most part yesterday. I think we just didn’t realize how much time it would take.”
Overall, though, the mood for winter has never been brighter or more wholesome. Holt notes, “There’s been a lot going on academically the week before break, so getting able to do this and work on it together has made me feel really good.” The holiday spirit is bound to grow for the rest of the school too.