The advisories at HBHS have shown off their creativity over the past few months in the Advisory Door Decorating Competition, an exciting event where each advisory covers the entirety of their door with art and decor to match a specific theme.

Introduced last year, the advisory concept is still fairly new to HBHS. It seeks to build community and closeness among students. And with it came this thrilling contest, bringing out these advisories’ competitive sides, and with this competition, an opportunity to bond. 

 The doors are judged by a board of anonymous critics who follow a specific rubric for evaluating each door. Some of the criteria include creativity, being on theme, covering the entirety of the door, and others specific to the theme. For example, this past theme was centered around Thanksgiving and Community, so doors that incorporated gratitude received higher scores.

Let’s hear a little bit from the perspective of math teacher Liz Kolb, whose advisory won one of the most recent competitions. “Our door had Snoopy on top of his dog house,” explains Kolb. “It said what they were grateful for in a thought bubble, and there were fall colored leaves on which students wrote things they were thankful for.” Earning points for creativity, themes of gratitude, and more, this door was certainly deserving of the win. But there was an even bigger outcome than the win, which was the community that arose from the collaboration. “Everyone participated in at least some way,” she says. “I feel like they wanted to do a nice job, and they wanted to win.” 

Kolb and her advisory students now await their prize. “How fun would it be if your advisory got to go to a trampoline park- that’s what I want my prize to be,” Kolb jokes. So administration, if you’re reading this… keep that in mind!

There can only be one winner, though, and that means not everyone gets the outcome they want. Though they poured their heart into this door design, English teacher Jordan Cormier’s advisory took a tough loss in this recent competition. “Everyone really brought it- there were themes of gratitude, and it was interactive,” Cormier says about her door that was creatively decorated with pickles. On the side of the door were little paper pickle cutouts on which people could write what they are grateful for. “The group was feeling confident, and then to lose was disappointing.” 

But the group bounced right back and focused on the positive outcomes of their loss. “It provided an opportunity to see other doors and reflect on what they did well,” Cormier explains. She also makes note of the impact it had on the community and togetherness of her group. “It brought my advisory together because they had to collaborate with an idea and execute it, and losing actually brought us together more because it was a collective loss, and they were joking around about it,” Cormier says. Their loss may have been disappointing, but the unexpected outcomes far outweigh that. “These moments become inside jokes and memories,” she notes. Cormier also explains why she believes the competition is beneficial for advisory communities in general, stating, “I think it positively affects the community. Throw a little competition in there, and then everyone is in.”

But how did this competition begin? “It was actually started by the student council last year, and advisory was just the vehicle for it,” explains Elizabeth Sulin, a member of the Advisory Leadership Team. And from there, the competition took off. Although it comes with its struggles, such as the short timeframe, this contest has had a positive impact on the participating advisories. Sulin says that these groups “really seemed to work together to make the experience a team-building piece for them, and that is our hope: to provide opportunities for advisories to work together on something.”