Mrs. Wetzel and her class has won the door decorating contest this homecoming week at Penn High School. Their door is inspired by the movie “Up” as the community lifts up Penn High School. When we asked how Mrs. Wetzel came up with her winning idea, Mrs. Wetzel said that she didn’t. “I had a student who came up with it in Pinterest, we totally ran with it and put it together,” she explained.
The “Up” theme represents how the community of Penn High School lifts us up. Mrs. Wetzel told PNN, “All the different balloons are different types of clubs at Penn High School, there all the sports, there cliques that naturally happen in a high school.”
The door-decorating challenge with the theme of “community” has brought Penn High School together this homecoming week. Teachers and their students spent a few days decorating their classroom doors, showing what it means to be a part of the Penn community.
But this happy pastime comes with a twist; administrators will choose the class with the best door to earn a food party. What kind of food, the teacher of the winning class shall choose–an exciting prize for any eager student.
The door-decorating contest is just one of many challenges created by the Kingsmen Court to celebrate Homecoming week. Celine Wang, an executive on the Kingsmen board, hopes that door-decorating will unify the school.
“The Kingsmen Court has been trying to raise school spirit, and Homecoming Week is the perfect time to do so,” she told PNN. “We wanted to make the hallways of Penn very vibrant and exciting for the celebration of Homecoming.”
PNN has spoken with many other teachers that have decorated their doors this week.
Mrs. Megia and her class have decided to make the theme of their door decorations, “Welcome Home.” They’ve decorated their door with blue paper and fall, festive fun. “All the students come up with the ideas.” Mrs. Megia told us.
“We discuss together the topic of community, and what things that relate it to community.” Mrs. Megia told us. The class even made their own definition of community in relation to the Early College Academy “Family with a feeling of acceptance, sense of equality, having common interests, while working toward an associate’s degree.”
Mrs. O’Brien is determined to go all out for the homecoming decorations. Her door has been decorated for
the Spell Bowl, her door is going to be decorated and “everyone is going to make their own pencil.”
When asked about how she felt the door decorations were building school spirit, O’Brien said, “I think it’s a great way to build community.” She told us she had stayed an hour after school with the her spell bowl team captain to decorate the door. “It was great for bonding.”
Mrs. Peterson didn’t decorate her door–she decorated her entire hallway and herself. She and her yearbook students taped pictures of Mr. Galiher, Dr. Thacker, and Coach Harper to the lockers to recognize the leaders of the school and all of their contributions to Penn’s spirit.
“I want students to be enthusiastic about Homecoming week,” she exclaimed. “Everyone should be really jazzed!”
The doors and hallways of Penn have been made exceptionally vibrant this week, and the school spirit is tangible–as is the competition between classes.
Even after the winner has been announced, and the competition dies down, Mrs. Wetzel and her class are celebrating their spirit of domination. And the school spirit was been lifted “Up” during this Homecoming decoration.
Reah Frydrych 
Nathan Tingle 
Brandon Hall