Every year, students from each grade at Townsend Harris High School compete to decorate their hallway with regards to a specific color and theme, with the winner being decided by the school administration. Due to remote learning, the Student Union proposed an alternate idea that allowed students to uphold this tradition virtually. Collages of this effort were posted on February 5 on each of the class’s Instagram pages.
The SU assigned each grade a letter to spell out “THHS,” by using household objects that correspond to the grade’s assigned color and then taking a picture. The SU put these pictures together to make multiple collages spelling “THHS.”
Sophomore Amanda Nakhul said she was happy that the SU kept the tradition going, even though students are currently learning remotely. Sophomore Angelina McCabe added that she thought the process was “very creative considering how this year has been all virtual.”
A few students, however, reminisced about their experiences from previous years decorating hallways. Junior Marykate Wee, who has participated in hallway decorating for the past few years, noted that she enjoyed the competitive aspect of hallway decorating since “it practically forced each grade to work together to try and win.” Sophomore Piyas Baidya said that he “really enjoyed the process last year since it was fun working together as a grade to compete for the best hallway design.” He added that he even made a few friends through decorating the freshmen hallway last year.
Some of the work featured in this year’s hallway decorating project included sophomore Sean Zhou’s red “H” which he made from Rubik’s cubes and Chinese New Year envelopes. Meanwhile, Marykate completed a collage on the editing platform PicsArt and used pictures of different purple household objects to form her “H.”
When asked about the results, Freshmen-Sophomore President Nameera Khan said, “I am extremely proud of the way hallway decorating turned out this year judging from the fact that we were all remote this year. The Student Union, myself included were happy with the effort the participants put and we are proud to do our part and present the final product to the school.”
Freshman Nelissa Singh said she was happy that the SU decided to continue this tradition because it allowed her and her peers to get a glimpse of THHS culture, and hopes to experience the real thing next year in person.
Photo courtesy of THHS Class of 2021
