By: Alex Durante

The snow is falling, and we’re drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music. That can only mean one thing, it’s Christmas time. In the past here at Eisenhower, it has been a tradition, sponsored by Student Council, to decorate classroom doors for the holiday season. You may recall that last year, each home advisory worked together to create a door decorated uniquely enough to win a prize, because it is a contest.

There were three categories last year, with a variety of winners. Mrs. Richardson’s door won for “best use of technology,” since it had a QR code on it which you could scan to watch a video created by her advisory. Our very own Squire advisory, led by Miss Howe, won in the category of “most creative,” and featured a construction paper cutout of Santa sitting on a toilet and reading The Squire. The all-around winner was Ms. McMonigal and her advisory in the choir room, which didn’t just have a door; they had a gingerbread themed entrance to their room lit up with Christmas lights, and inflatable decorations, along with having Christmas music that continuously played outside the room.

Perhaps the most memorable of the doors last year was Mr. Zapel’s. Even though it did not win anything, it seemed to be the student favorite, with a big picture of his head pasted on it.

Since she was the previous winner, The Squire interviewed Ms. McMonigal. Last year, she had a sixth grade advisory and she, “helped them complete it [the door decorations] by providing supplies.” This year, “the students came up with a handful of ideas,” which were voted on, and “the theme of Elf, the movie, won the class vote.” She doesn’t know if they will win this year, because “time is tight,” with the upcoming choir concert and, “99% of my advisory is in middle level choir.”

We also interviewed our very own Miss Howe about what The Squire’s door was going to look like this year. “We’re going to include Santa, Mrs. Claus, and reindeer,” while still including the publication you’re reading right now. It sounds like a winning idea, although Miss Howe told us that she’s “not sure [if it will win or not]. I know last year, Ms. McMonigal and her advisory were very creative with the choir hallway, so I’m excited to see what they come up with.”

So who will be our biggest competition? Miss Howe thinks competition will be tough, “I don’t think there’s just one main competitor. Since this is the second [recent] year, I think there will be even more competition this year. We will have to come up with something really creative to win!”

Finally, we asked senior, Kyle Coons, to talk about his experience with the contest. Last year, he had Mrs. McElhaney for advisory and worked on a door decked out as an iPhone that featured Mrs. Alm using FaceTime to talk to Santa Claus. This year, he is in Ms. Walter’s advisory, and says, “we are planning to recreate the Polar Express putting a train on the door.” He said that they are going to, “have a smoke machine,” which will be used to make it look like smoke is coming out of the train’s engine. When asked if he thinks that they will win, he replied, “Absolutely, because Ms. Walter is the best.” Kyle is a little worried though and believes  that his biggest competition will be, “Miss Howe, because she is artistic.”

It seems that there is lots of great ideas and lots of competition this year, so it will be interesting to find out who the winner is. Good luck to all and happy holidays from all of us here at The Squire!