HHS Students Deck the Halls for the Holidays

Huntington High School students got into the spirit of the season when dozens of teenagers spent hours after school decorating first and second floor hallways to help create a festive holiday atmosphere.

Deck the Halls is a student government inspired event to spread the joy and spirit of the season throughout the building. Class and school-wide officers planned how they wanted to go about developing four focused displays in hallways – one each for the Class of 2024, Class of 2025, Class of 2026 and Class of 2027.

All students were invited to participate in creating the displays and to have the theme of their display spill down their assigned hallway.

“Deck the Halls went really well,” said Nina Fascilla, the school-wide student government president who doubles as president of the Class of 2024. “Every grade spent weeks planning and prepping for the event. We each chose holiday themes to incorporate into our exhibit and strategically executed the visions by being prepared and working together. Everything is student-built, meaning we had to come together as a class and spend time cutting, gluing, painting and doing everything else that it takes to get ready. During the actual event, everyone had fun listening to festive music and collaborating to put everything together in time. It took lots of work and lots of cleanup afterward. Overall, I think  this was our best year yet because every exhibit is unique and looks amazing.”

PTA members provided snacks and refreshments. Organizers hope the displays provide holiday cheer for everyone in the building. Faculty and staff are voting online to determine which of the four displays wins a first place prize. Categories include creativity, neatness, originality and spirit.

“The kids worked hard and were super creative this year,” said David Moriarty, who along with Danielle Raguzin serves as the student government faculty advisor. “All the displays have a cohesive and clear theme and are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. We were happy with the turnout, but hope that even more students will get involved next year!”

The Deck the Halls initiative has become a cherished high school tradition. “This year the Class of 2024 decided to do ‘home for the holidays’ as our theme,” said Zaida Correal, Class of 2024 vice president. “I am so happy that I’ve done Deck the Halls for the last four years and I will miss doing activities like this after I graduate next June. I just wanted to thank our class advisors for everything they do for us and also thank my fellow officers as well. Happy holidays!”

The freshman display is located in the foreign language hallway with the sophomore display being found in the social studies hallway. The junior class display is in the math hallway with the senior display in the science hallway.

“Deck the Halls was super fun,” Class of 2024 President Katherine Estrada Morales said. “We had a good amount of people from our class show up and help out. We had a layout of the basic ideas, but once everyone started inputting their different ideas and imagination our whole display really came together. I feel like I can speak for all the seniors who were there, that once we took a step back and saw our finish product, the sentimental feeling really came around.”