Sophomores take a trip to Japan

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the sophomore class transformed its hallway into a Japanese escape.  The “Samurai Sophomores” spent hours after school on Tuesday perfecting its second homecoming hallway.

The theme was chosen in June, giving the Class of 2018 months to prepare unlike during its freshman year.  The new class officers brainstormed a list of possible themes and then narrowed it down, and the students voted online out of four choices.

Ms. Jacqueline Stoller, a special education teacher and one of the sophomore class advisers along with Mr. Mario Porciello, felt that this year’s hallway was significantly improved from last year’s Fluorescent Freshmen theme.

“Last year, I think we did pretty well for our first year without any experience or time to prepare. However, this year I think we did an exceptional job for second year students,” Stoller said.  “Students put forth a great deal of effort in the planning and execution of the hallway.”

This year’s success can be attributed to more organization.  The sophomores had many meetings to plan out the hallway and students had individual responsibilities that they worked on independently.

Class officers Kevin Callahan, Eric Tymoshenko, Olivia Traphagen, Alex Walter and Madeline Dill helped keep the focus on Tuesday night when decorating the hallway.  Help from the entire grade was essential, as well.  This year, more students showed up to assemble the hallway and demonstrated more pride for their class by doing so.

“I think this year we were more prepared in terms of decorating the hallway and spreading the word for everyone to come and pitch in.  We also had more experience and more time over the summer to plan and coordinate what needed to be done,” said sophomore Laura Yuan.  “Everyone worked really well together and we had a much better turnout compared to last year. I think the hallway looks great.”

The hallway exhibited many elements of nature and had unique touches, such as origami cranes and strung lights.

“I think our hallway has a very soothing effect,” Stoller said.  “We incorporated a lot of nature into our theme.”

Spirit Week allows for each grade level so show school spirit and work together as a team.

“My favorite part about decorating the hallway is definitely that everyone works together to make it happen. We started working as soon as class ended and cleaned up at around 8:45,” Yuan said.  “So many people came and with everyone contributing the hallway came together even better than we had imagined.”