The seniors won WARnaments Battle of 2024!
The Class of 2025 had decided on the color gold for the theme, but after the unfortunate loss of Garrett Gearhart, officers decided to make it a memorial/angel tree.
“The officers, Mrs. Litts and I initially brainstormed ideas for themes and the idea of the angel/memorial/tribute tree grew organically out of our conversations,” explained senior advisor Susan Miller. “Mrs. Kraeutler was instrumental in helping us find angel cut-outs to use. She offered ideas and
suggestions for creating them. Mrs. Mesko in the clerical room was also key in acquiring materials for us to use. All the officers helped with decorating both during and after school. We had help from class members as well, especially when it came to cutting out angels, wrapping gifts, and offering ideas and suggestions.”
She also specially thanked the custodial staff for their help decorating the tree saying, “Randy, and his team offered their time and assistance with ladders and the genie lift. They were so encouraging and supportive. It was a great team effort all around!”
The Mountaineer did a student poll prediction and the results couldn’t have been more different. In the student poll, seniors got 25 percent of the votes, juniors got 11 percent, and sophomores got 65 percent of the votes.
Nonetheless, the judges picked the Class of 2025 gold-embellished tree as the winner. There were nearly 20 judges voting, some of which were Denise Karavoulias, Nancy Sarti, Mike Cavanaugh, Lori Koch, Jeff Opp, Melissa Haubrich, and Dawn Maletz.
Junior Class Adviser, Jen Giordano, is a new teacher at SHS and a former student. However, this new tradition was not part of Giordano’s high school days. President, Olivia Full, and officers Kalli Halas, Athena Skarlis, and Joyia Adams were a huge help to newcomer, Giordano. The Class of 2026 silver-themed tree can be viewed in the cafeteria.
Giordano shared some of the judges’ anonymous comments that were left for them to review: ” Love the blue lights twinkling!”, “Love the different size ornaments. Love the silver spray. “, “Very pretty. Presents looked great.”
According to the Mountaineer WARnament Poll, the Class of 2027 tree was the student favorite. However,
among the SHS judges, this maroon tree was not the favorite.
Sophomores had a maroon theme by default voting last week. Still, the tree was only partially decorated.
Class Adviser, Natalie Jennings, said, “The issue was student involvement” and that it’s been difficult getting sophomores involved all year.
Sign-up sheets were posted but left blank. Advisers volunteered to give up their lunches to help, but often the volunteer sheets were empty. Only a handful of sophomores showed up to decorate during their lunch or study hall. The Class of 2026 tree is on display in the gym lobby.
