For Homecoming Week, North High students decorated the commons in the theme of “Once Upon a Time”.
The planning process started in August, where members of Student Council brainstormed ideas, bought supplies, and planned the design of the commons.
“We put quite a lot of time into it, just to make sure that it would look great for the students,” said sophomore Winta Solomon, who is the vice president for the class of 2027.
The decorations are themed to the homecoming themes of each grade level, with the Class of 2025 being the Princess and the Frog, Class of 2026 being Alice in Wonderland, Class of 2027 being Sleeping Beauty, and Class of 2028 being the Beauty and the Beast.
Juniors and seniors came into school on Monday, Oct. 14 to set up their decorations, and sophomores set up their area on Tuesday, Oct. 15. The freshmen didn’t have any decorations until Friday, so they were unable to decorate until then.
“[The freshmen] have not been on STUCO long, and are still learning,” said student council sponsor Bob McKitrick,. Unlike the other three grade levels, who have their representatives elected at the end of the previous school year, the freshmen student council members are elected at the beginning of the school year, which may be a factor of the decorations delay.
“I think once a class does the decorations, they learn and better prepare for next year,” said McKitrick. “I do think the enthusiasm increases as their time in high school progresses. The creativity increases as well.”
For the seniors, this is their last homecoming, and consequently their last chance at decorating the commons.
“I think our decorations are definitely better than last year, and I think the seniors and the sophomores did the best this year. Since this is our senior year, we really wanted to go all out and make our corner of the commons super cool, “ said senior Kiara Brawner, the student body vice president.
The senior decorations consisted of green tablecloth, floral centerpieces, green and yellow streamers, butterflies and vines on the walls, a frog stuffed animal, and “25” balloons to represent their graduation year.
“The seniors’ design for this year was centered around Princess and the Frog, so we ordered a bunch of items that were green, gold, and that related to Princess and the Frog,” said Brawner. “We ended up getting a lot of vines, florals, butterflies, and alligator/frog items.”
The juniors corner of the commons was decorated with red and pink streamers, checkered tablecloths, large playing cards on the walls, and Alice in Wonderland banners, stickers, and arrow signs while the sophomores decorated with pink and white streamers, circular floral centerpieces, pink tablecloths, bows on the wall, floral garland, and hanging mushrooms and pink flowers.
“I have to give a shout out to the sophomore class for their creativity, and the juniors and seniors for coming in over their day off on Monday to decorate,” said McKitrick. “That was next level commitment on their part.”
The freshmen used yellow, blue, brown, and red tablecloth, Disney princess balloons and plates, twinkle lights, and red and yellow streamers.
Last year’s homecoming theme was Neon Nights. “I personally think that [the decorations] this year are 10 times better,” said Solomon.
Despite homecoming week only lasting four days, the decorations helped in making that limited time memorable.
“Overall, I’m very proud of how the decorations turned out,” said Brawner.
