In the cold basement of the FHS building, a little holiday magic appeared this December. The band room was transformed into a winter wonderland, but it was not an elf who did this. Instead, it was our very own FHS students bringing a little joy to the school!
Seniors Jenna Phillips and Joey Patalon planned this whole winter transformation. Jenna decorated the room with a few friends because she and Joey “wanted to do [the decorations] for a while to get everyone in the mood for the winter parades and the winter concert.”
However, creating this winter wonderland was no easy feat. Jenna “got the 3 smallest people in band to put up [the] decorations, so [they] had to improvise.” They even had to use a ladder to “put the decorations on the poles and to hang up the dreidel.” Jenna and Joey weren’t the only ones to decorate the band room; fellow band member, Izzy Tarantola, and band teacher, Mrs. Foote, also helped decorate.
This transformation has been in the works for over two years! Jenna and Joey “spoke about it in [their] Dual Enrollment class last year and [could not] do it. This year [Jenna got her] Dad to let [them] borrow a Christmas tree and went on a Target shopping trip” in order to make the holiday magic come to life.
Jenna “[hopes] this becomes a new tradition. Having something to look forward to every season when [the band is] so busy worrying about marching, parades, [and] memorizing music,” the decorations feel nice to have around during a stressful time. Jenna also hopes it will “bring the leadership team together to plan hopefully more extravagant decorations next year. “
In order to keep this tradition alive, Jenna and the fellow decorators “wrote on one of the plain white ornaments ‘Christmas Crew’ 2024-2025.” We hope the next generation of band members keeps up this tradition of holiday joy!
