As the semester wraps up and Christmas approaches around the corner, teachers show their festive spirit by decorating their classroom doors. Classrooms have a chance to enter in the door decorating competition as a Christmas tradition for Amador Valley.
Obstacles in Decorations
Met with the rainy conditions around December and due to teachers dropping from the contest, we didn’t have as many decorated doors as in previous years on campus.
“I had all intentions to participate and compete against Señora Henriquez, but I’ve been out with pneumonia and didn’t have the opportunity to participate. There was a theme in my minmind, but we may just have to save it for next year. , but it is something my Spanish 2 class enjoys,” said Spanish teacher Lord Eyewe.
To get door decorating done, teachers give the opportunity to their students to decorate doors. Students inclined to the arts enjoy this opportunity as they are also tempted to decorate with potential motivators.
“[Door Decorating is] a fun chance for me to do arts and crafts at school and create things with my hands! It’s also fun because of the pizza motivation which unites our class for a common goal,” said Amy Yang (‘25).
Japanese teacher Rieko Murphy allows her students to decorate her door during ACCESS Periods, making it possible to to be a part of this competition every year. With finals approaching, this tradition hopes to serve the students with holiday spirit.
“Decorating the door fosters a sense of positivity and excitement among students as they anticipate the holidays. Door decorating has been a fun tradition as it spreads lots of holiday cheer to all the students before winter break,” said Japanese Teacher Rieko Murphy.
Connection to Student
Students and teachers alike were invested in the decorating competition. All the students love seeing different designs of doors as they can look forward to the prize at the end. However, the turnout of the competitors this year was quite short, as Yang emphasized her opinion on how the door festivities could be improved throughout the years.
“One thing that could be improved with door decorating is if more classes participated, because I think the decorated doors really make the campus more spirited! Another thing that could be improved in the door decorating would be to make the materials waterproof and windproof…” said Amy Yang (25’).
