Yesterday, December  21, 2018, staff members across every department joined forces in the ultimate holiday sweater take-over. In order to incorporate the student body, the staff decided to turn it into a twinning scavenger hunt. Throughout the day, students had to find the teacher pairs with matching sweaters then correctly record the duos on a sheet and return it to Christine Heaton, Head Librarian, by 2:00.

In fact, the whole game was Heaton’s brainchild. It all started with a simple Facebook post of a funky cat holiday sweater and a suggestion for twinning. From there, Heaton and her fellow Hollis Brookline High School staff members got swept away by the crazy sweater fun. “I think we should get as many teachers as possible to wear the same ridiculous shirt on the same day. Ooo! Or we play the live-action memory game were all teachers wear twinsies and make the kids figure out who matches with who! The kid who can recite all the pairs wins,” said Heaton.

Teachers quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Stacey Plummer, Head of the Math Department, said “[t]hat would be a riot” and asked exactly how many different sweaters there really were, getting the ball rolling for some twinning fun. A couple of replies later, the conversation moved to a private message feed between all the teachers in order to keep yesterday’s events safe from student’s eyes.

Approximately 75 staff members, including Principal Rick Barnes and Vice Principal Bob Ouellette were in on the joke. Part of the original plan was to surprise the two administrators with all of the crazy sweaters at the staff breakfast this morning before the start of school. However, about a week ago, Barnes was approached by history teacher and union representative, Jennifer Given. He was excited by the prospect. “It was really nice- it was good for staff morale and a good way to keep the last day a little bit lighter,” said Barnes.  

Both the students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the day. English teacher and Cavalier Chronicle adviser Heather Hamilton had a blast wearing a sparkly sweater with a stuffed animal unicorn head in the center: “Sweater day has been the best day so far in my entire experience at Hollis Brookline High School, because I get to wear a giant unicorn on my shirt all day long.” Her twin for yesterday’s festivities was English teacher Victoria Flaherty

Equally as enthusiastic, foods teacher Candice Hancock was in it to win it yesterday with her iconic holiday pizza sweatshirt. “I looked up… food ugly sweatshirt on Google and this is what I came up with. It’s disgusting. I win. I totally win… it seems like a pizza through up on a Christmas tree,” said Hancock.   

Students were very impressed by the quality and variety of all the sweaters which ranged from elf dresses to a festive Will Smith. “A lot of teachers have some pretty cool sweaters on, it’s hard to pick a favorite,” said Lauren Ingraham ‘20.

Overall, the day was success! Sweater day boosted staff morale and promoted a great sense of unity throughout the school. A big thanks to all the staff members who organized the event and to Christine Heaton who ran the student game. Congratulations to yesterday’s twinning winners Alyssa Hall ‘19, Matthew Hutchinson ‘19, and the Bingo winners Taylor O’Connell ‘19 and Victoria Bruzik ‘20 and Anastasia Zawadowskiy ‘20 ! Happy holidays Hollis Brookline!

Check the bottom of the article for the photo slideshow of some of the staff in their crazy sweaters!

Gallery • 12 Photos

Justin Holmes