Hallway decorations impress and unite

Elisha Grob, Staff writer

When students look at the newly decorated hallways, they may overhear their peers taking pride in their hard work or admiring the creativity. All around the school, people smile and appreciate the hard work and dedication that Panther students put into making their hallways as captivating and appealing as possible. The hallways not only lift school spirit, but are also a great way to remind students of Homecoming is and that the theme, James Bond, is going to be spectacular.

“The hallway decorations that have been put out by the students are, in my opinion, really cool,” sophomore Justin Rodriguez said. “Walking through the different hallways you can really feel a sense of individualism, wit, and creativity that differentiates each grade from the other. I believe this really does help boost school spirit because it makes students show their support for the school in creative and unique ways.”

Each grade level had their own unique hallway that displayed their color. The classes used banners and streamers to express themselves.

“I helped more with senior hallway than club hallways,” senior Mia Lam said. “Walking in on the Monday of homecoming week is my favorite part of homecoming time. Seeing the senior hallway decked out in red excited me and I love decorations and it’s like my feelings have exploded in colors and 3D décor. It gives people a sense of pride when you are able to see the rules of decorum bent a little in the effort to have school spirit.”

Different students and teachers helped with the enthralling hallways, whether they will attend Homecoming or not. Even if they weren’t attending, they still had much school spirit and enjoyed helping out. Homecoming hallways stay decorated only for a couple of weeks, but the memories stay in peoples’ hearts forever. Many students will graduate soon. Freshman and sophomores who attend remember Homecoming as a time they spend with their friends throughout their teenage years. Students can look back on Homecoming as a time to celebrate and decorate their own personal lives.

“I’m junior Homecoming princess and helping with the hallways helped so much with the positive attitude towards Homecoming week,” junior Megan Archer said.  “It added so much more to the experience beforehand.”

Teachers in charge of clubs also contributed tremendously towards the enhanced hallways. Even if they are just the sponsors, they had to get all the materials together and be in charge of the students who made the hallway. Without the teachers, the magical James Bond hallway would have never been the way it is today.

“Mrs. Frawley, the Interact sponsor, dedicated long hours to helping the Interact hallway thrive,” sophomore Kayla Spigelman said. “Mrs. Frawley was able to gather about 25 students to help with the decorations! Without Mrs. Frawley, the Interact hallway would have never turned out the way it did.”

The Interact Club hallway, the first place winner, has steamers and 007’s hanging down from the ceiling. The entire hallway looks like a city skyline with images of buildings and lights. Interact hung posters were hung up with James Bond quotes and pictures of the administrators from characters from the movies.

Math teacher Ms. Kaplan also helped with Homecoming decorations. She was a huge part of the hallways and helped get new students into the concept of school spirit for Homecoming and school spirit as a whole.

“The freshman class is new to school and not completely sure what Homecoming is about,” said math teacher Ms. Kaplan. “The students sat down and volunteered and had the whole theme of ‘Go Palmetto’ around. A group of 20 freshman helped work with it. It was a way to get freshman Panthers comfortable and acclimated to not only Homecoming but being a Panther in general.”