Room 309 featured a table filled with the ornaments. There were all different colors and they showed different images.
Some of the ornaments were snowmen, sleds, and crystal balls. The students decorated all of the ornaments. They added glitter and fake snow to them. They also created the snowmen out of mason jars and different craft items. The sleds they created were painted red.
Other interesting items that they were selling were discs that they made out of melted beads. The discs are multicolored and are hung on red string. Teacher Whitney Crabtree explained how they were made, “We took beads and put them in little pans to make them round, then we melted them.”
The students are selling the ornaments to raise enough money to have their yearly picnic. At the end of the year, the students have the get-together where they eat food in celebration of end of the school year/graduation.
Students participated in the endeavor. Sophomore Jared Riley stated, “[I’m wearing red] because it’s the least I can do [to] show my support for the people who put so much into my education.” In agreement with Riley, senior Keegan Crabtree said,“Teachers are 100 percent and I like to show that I acknowledge how hard they work.”
The appreciation day was not just for Orange County, but all North Carolina schools. “Public school teachers in North Carolina have not been feeling the love from their legislators for the last five years, and seem to be near their breaking point… In response, a grassroots effort to voice their disapproval has sprung up. Teachers across the state are threatening to walk out of their classrooms on Nov. 4 in protest of working conditions and pay,” stated Statesville.com.