For this year’s Homecoming hallways, WJ SGA and leadership voted on the theme fantasy worlds. The seniors were assigned Greek Mythology, juniors, Harry Potter, sophomores, Alice in Wonderland and the freshman, Star Wars. All were tasked with turning their hallways into a world that exceeds imagination. Were they up for the challenge?

Seniors

Seniors took the crown in this year’s Homecoming hallway competition with their take on Greek Mythology. Hoping to channel all aspects of the famous characters and scenes from that time, they separated the commons into the different sections. The mixture of black paper, white skulls and gray tarp hanging from the ceiling really helped to create the underworld feel. Moving on into the sacred garden, the lush foliage mixed with the beautiful nature scenery captured the essence of the stories of the different gods and goddesses.

Following the garden, the environment changes to Mount Olympus on the left side and the sea on the right. In order to create the feeling of being up in the clouds, the seniors scattered polyfil all over the steps along with covering the steps with white paper. Zeus and a series of other gods and goddesses sat on top of Mount Olympus and waved to everyone as they walked by. To recreate the structure, they even had columns on the steps. In the sea portion, Poseidon sat along with other seniors who were passing out gold chocolate coins to people as they walked by. The sea aspects were enhanced with cool wallpaper covering the ground and floors with images of the ocean. The seniors even included a boat set up along the side with fisherman netting draped all over it.

Walking outside, there are more seniors dressed up as sales people trying to sell fruit to students. On the upper deck, there were people fighting it out against each other with enthusiastic spectators observing from the side. Entering back into the commons, rounding out the hallway, is a part on top of Mount of Olympus. The seniors really captured all that Greek Mythology has to offer and really showed off their creative side.

“The hallway was an expression of the creativity of all the people who were involved and [the hallway committee] spent the better part of the last 2 months designing and building the hall. There is nothing about the hall I would change,” senior Sean Siegel, head of the hallway decorating committee in leadership, commented.

Juniors

The junior class took second place, with their take on the classic Harry Potter series. The walls were covered with brick printed wallpaper along with hand painted posters of the various Hogwarts houses. Along the ceiling, specific references were made to the movie including the infamous nine and three quarters platform number for the train to Hogwarts. Walking down the halls, students served as vendors for wands and various potions, including one that made students sick joking it was the best possibility for someone to get out of class.

There were students playing the goblins from Gringotts Wizarding Bank passing out gold chocolate coins to students. It was also cool how they had cut outs for students to put their heads through,  the talking paintings of Hogwarts. Finally, the kiosk was used to pass out Harry potter classics, including butterbeer, elf wine and firewhiskey, to students as they exited the hall.

The junior class captured all the intricate details that make up the wizarding world in the short period of time they had to prepare. The entire time, the hallway was packed with people raving about all the cool features. It is difficult to tackle such a detail-oriented theme, and the juniors rose to the occasion.

“I think the hallway turned out really well. We had so many of our classmates volunteer to make the dream world of Harry Potter a reality. If I could change one thing it would have been the music, not having the same Harry Potter trap song on repeat,” junior class Vice President Sonia Tavik said.

Sophomore

The sophomore class finished out the competition in last place. Their theme was Alice in Wonderland, and trying to recreate that world in such a short period of time is no easy task. Alice in Wonderland, like Harry Potter, has a lot of detail associated with it but at the same time decorating opportunities are endless. Sophomores created a good base in their hallway, but they could have done so much more. Half the hallway just felt bare, with minimal decorations. They included little touches of Alice in Wonderland by hanging playing cards from the ceiling and including a small game of golf with the putters that look like flamingos. The sophomore class president, Ava Solomon, added to the fun and brought her DJ equipment from home. Even though music is always a great touch to the hallways, the music did not fit the theme of the hallway.

“Not gonna lie, this was a bit of a disappointment. The decorations were somewhat bland and participation was minimal,” senior Olivia He said.

Freshman

The freshman class, going against the grain of past years, took home third place in this years competition. This year, the freshman were assigned Star Wars and did an amazing job with the theme. They covered the walls with black paper and using an overhead projector, projected cityscapes from the Star Wars universe on the wall and traced over that with a white crayon. The whole tracing gave off the vibe of being in outer space.

On the day that the hallway unveiled, the freshman added to their hallway by having both students and teachers battling with light sabers. The science teachers specifically took part in the hallway by dressing up and participating in the battles. The freshman did an amazing job for their first go around, and they created a hall that really encompassed the theme. Of course they could have done more to embody Star Wars, but at the same time what they did manage to do was quite marvelous.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much after the last few years. This one, I was pleasantly surprised with. The most impressive thing to me was how much work went into the poster with the Star Wars intro written on it. Plus the inclusion of teachers such as Mr. Eastman and Mr. Grimes was a nice touch,” senior Elizabeth Potts said.