As students for Arcadia High School (AHS) gear up for Semester 1 finals—a week filled with stress and anxiety as they end the year—members of the Arcadia Quill blew off some steam by partaking in a Quill holiday tradition. Utilizing the window panels overlooking Campus Drive, members of the Arcadia Quill participated in the annual Window Wars, a competition between grade levels to decorate the best window.

For their window, freshmen writers painstakingly cut letters from red and green construction paper to form the words “FELIZ NAVIDAD”, signing their window with an additional “-9th grade”, and completing their design with a snowflake and a border of holly and tinsel. 

Sophomores decided to take a different approach, adorning their window with a variety of Christmas decorations, including Santa faces, stockings, and snowflakes—three of each to represent each of the three in-class sophomore staff writers. With the addition of ornaments, a crackling fireplace made of layered construction paper, and another border of holly and tinsel, the sophomores completed their symbolic, festive masterpiece.

Like the sophomores, junior staff writers and editors also decided to use Christmas decorations for their window. Dominated by a central Christmas tree outlined in green tinsel, the juniors’ window also featured a snowflake. Juniors also taped stockings to the edges of the tree and topped it off with a 3-D origami star to mimic the decorations of real Christmas trees. They didn’t stop there; using white yarn, creativity, and an impressive amount of dexterity, staff writers outlined the cursive words “ho ho ho” connected to an outline of Santa carrying a sack in the center of the tree.

Senior Quill members, not to be outdone by their underclassmen, filled their window with festive cheer. Like the juniors, seniors also decided to utilize a Christmas theme to decorate their window, using brown and white construction paper, holly, and cotton balls to form a gingerbread house, complete with windows overlooking Campus Drive and a red tinsel heart wafting from a chimney on the snow-covered roof. Additionally, each senior in the class decorated and cut out a miniature gingerbread man from brown construction paper, using glitter and gel markers to outline faces, buttons, and scarves, before positioning their gingerbread men around the house—peeking out behind windows, walking up to the house, and even climbing on the chimney. To top off their creation, the seniors added a red tinsel heart wafting up from the chimney.

To judge the competition and decide a winner of the Window Wars, advisor Mrs. Lesley Lee invited AHS Principal Ms. Angie Dillman and Assistant Principal Ms. Karen DuBerke on Thursday, Dec. 15 to assess the windows. While the freshmen, with their “FELIZ NAVIDAD”, won the approval of Ms. DuBerke, who taught Spanish at AHS for 19 years before becoming assistant principal, the judges ultimately decided upon the seniors as the winners of the 2022 Window Wars.

“As a senior, this was my last time competing in the Window Wars, so I really worked hard on the window!” said Catherine Chan, 12, Arcadia Quill, Editor in Chief. “Everyone had a blast decorating the windows, and it feels great to win!”

With this festive holiday tradition, writers at the Quill had the opportunity to relieve some stress about the upcoming finals while also embracing the holiday spirit. As we approach the final weeks of 2022, we wish everyone the best of luck for their finals, and happy holidays!