Friendly competition is exactly what PHS felt we needed this past holiday season. Our annual Holiday Door Decorating Competition is the perfect way for students and teachers to bond and show their holiday spirit!

The rules were simple: First, you had to find a school staff member whose door you could decorate. Then, the teacher of your choice was required to sign up for the context by filling out a Google Form. Lastly, the door needed to be done and ready to be judged by December 20th.

After the judging took place, judges decided that Mrs. Klastava’s door deserved the win for this year’s competition! Mrs. Klastava was enthusiastic to sign up for the competition as she “usually [signs] up! [She] has a lot of senior classes and [she likes] giving them the opportunity to do this before they leave high school”

Like Mrs. Klastava mentions, this competition, while using a teacher’s door, is very focused on the work the students put in. One of the most important aspects of the holiday door is the theme. A student contributor to the door, Vincent Novak, PHS senior stated that their door’s theme was based off the 1974 stop-motion animated film,  “A Year Without a Santa Claus“, and we picked it because we thought it was original.” Judges were going to pick a winner not only on the theme and message it portrayed, but also on the creativity of the door. When planning out their door, Vincent said he wanted “lights, I wanted the entire hallway to be covered and I wanted an interactive 3D portion of it”

These plans slowly came true as the due date came up, and the students had to get to work! Mrs. Klastava explained that, “We actually only used one class period to go out and decorate it, but I had a handful of students who came back after school or in the morning and added to it as we were going along” Vincent confirmed this by explaining that he would “come back after school to finish” and that “period 3 on B days” would help add any final touches to their incredible art piece. Clearly, her students were extremely dedicated and determined to win!
While there were many creative and eye-catching doors, Mrs. Klastava’s door was voted to be the best! “What I think stood out is how special the door was and how everything worked really well” says Vincent, who also included lights and music with the door “from the actual movie scene.”

While this competition is to show creativity and holiday spirit, it also focuses on creating connections between students. Mrs. Klastava loved how she got to watch “students who had never spoken to each other before work together.”

Congrats to Mrs. Klastava and her hard working students for being the champions of this year’s Holiday Door Decorating Competition, but don’t worry, your favorite teacher might have a chance next year!