St. John’s students have never been able to walk the red carpet — until now.
Over the weekend, sophomore Houda Teirelbar joined a team of more than a dozen students to transform the School into a Hollywood haven. They laid out a red carpet on the Academic Commons and hung up banners and streamers. Posters of paparazzi adorn the walls.
These decorations set the School up for the annual Homecoming event, which occurred on Monday, Oct. 27. This year, the theme was Hollywood.
“It’s cute! There’s a lot you can do with this theme,” Teirelbar said. “There’s something for everyone to wear.”
Spirit Club, led by senior Spirit Captains Montgomery Ferguson, Lee Monistere, Quentin Nicholson, Finnian Owsley and Morgan Raizner, came up with this year’s theme. The captains drew inspiration from other school’s themes they had seen on social media and Pinterest. After coming up with a list, they sent options to the Student Affairs Council.
SAC and Spirit Club usually work together on designing House games, such as the competitions during the Upper School pep rallies. Homecoming is the other main collaboration between the two student organizations. Raizner, who announced the theme to the school with prefect Kenzie Chu, says that Hollywood is her favorite theme out of her four years at the School.
“So much of who people are is what they enjoy seeing in pop culture,” she said. “The entirety of Hollywood is that culture and the things that we’re seeing in the media right now.”
English teacher Kyle Dennan and Review advisor David Nathan are designing a course called Crash Course in Film Studies for Jan Plan, a full week in January when students take courses based on the faculty’s passions. Dennan is glad that Hollywood was “honored” through the Homecoming theme.
“It’s a good way of encouraging students to be celebratory and elevate themselves in a different way,” Dennan said.
One of Dennan’s favorite parts about film is its ability to break the pattern of everyday life, since the viewer experiences a “heightened version of reality” on the screen.
“Hopefully the theme encouraged students to have that experience to break out of themselves and have fun,” Dennan said.
