By Brooklyn Staab
The holidays rang true at Chisholm High School! We did the holidays a bit differently. This year, we visited and played games with elementary kids, many organizations did Christmas-related activities, and we had our annual “Lunch in Enid” after missing a year due to Covid.
Every year a service project occurs as part of the festivities. This year the staff decided to have the high school visit the kids at Chisholm Elementary School to form bonds between the elementary and high school students. We also did this project to assist the teachers with their silly students who are anxious for the break. Various activities occurred with the elementary schoolers including bouncy houses, games, and recess. The CHS staff says that they think visiting the kids positively affected all and hopefully provided the elementary kids with good role models.
National Honor Society helped Santa with responding to letters from the kids at the elementary school. The elementary schoolers wrote letters about their Christmas lists to the elves at the North Pole. However, Santa was so busy that the Honor Society decided to help out.
FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) adopted teachers as secret Santas. They asked teachers what their favorite snack or drink was and different FCA members anonymously delivered the Christmas cheer.
Spanish Club had a Christmas fiesta and did their annual service project. This year they decided to become Santa for seniors in nursing homes.
The creative writing class decorated the school for the holidays. They made paper door decorations including Christmas trees, Santa’s uniform, snowmen, and elves.
The final week of classes was dubbed a spirit week for the holidays. Days like ugly Christmas sweater day, pajama day, and flannel day were enjoyed by all. Dress-up days are always fun, and they definitely raised the spirits of students during finals week.
CHS also has an annual “Lunch in Enid”, but due to Covid, it didn’t happen last year. This year everyone (300 students and 32 faculty members) went out to eat in groups in between exams on the last day of the semester. Former principal Jaymie Morley started this tradition over a decade ago. Jim Ebel, a seven-year science teacher at Chisholm, said that the lunch is, “a reward for exhibiting good behavior and reaching academic goals [for students].” This lunch also opens opportunities for new friendships.
Chisholm may be a small school, but there are still people here that some have not met before. The holidays and testing can both be stressful times, so adding a little Christmas cheer brings everyone together. Chisholm has truly bounced back after the pandemic and succeeded in bringing back all their annual traditions!
