THS Students Remember Sandy Hook Victims In Holiday Display

Tiverton High School students battled it out in the longstanding annual Deck the Halls competition on Tuesday to see which grade level can decorate the best holiday display.

Each year about a dozen students from each grade level meet for about two weeks to develop a theme, cut out decorations and spread the holiday cheer before enduring judgment. Every year students create beautiful holiday displays, but faculty said students took it to a higher level this year.

"We have an exceptionally beautiful display of holiday themed windows and walls surrounding our courtyard here at Tiverton High School," said Sheila Kauffmann, community service learning coordinator at the high school. "Each year each individual  class decorates a hallway and this year all of the classes really went above and beyond."

The junior class won bragging rights after administrative secretaries deemed their section of hallway the cheeriest. 

Aside from the expertly hand-painted scenes from "A Christmas Carol" that covered the windows, in the center of the display the juniors created a memorial for the 26 victims killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week.

Twenty six white angels, each engraved with a name of one of the fallen, covered the wall offering a reminder - much as Scrooge does - that what's most important about the holidays is taking care of each other.

The freshman made a near life-sized display of Santa and his friendly reindeer in their 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'-themed stretch of hallway.

Ornate white and silver snowflakes sprinkled the hallway where reindeer, presents and snowmen invited in passers' by in the Sophomore's 'Welcome to the North Pole' hall.

Seniors stepped into a winter wonderland, using red drapes, fir tree vines and ornaments to explore their theme.

As the winning class, the juniors received $50 toward their class fund. The fund helps students pay for things like prom and class trips.