On Oct. 19, students gathered to decorate their assigned hallways matching the 2022 Homecoming theme, “A Night in the City.” Each grade hoped to win this years’ hallway decorating by bringing in their own supplies and adding student-made art to their decorations. In the end, sophomores won first place, seniors won second, juniors won third, and freshmen got fourth place.

The cities were chosen by the class officers in each grade. The seniors got to pick first and chose Las Vegas as their theme to decorate the 1400s hall. The juniors picked Tokyo to decorate the 1600s hall, sophomores picked Paris to decorate the 1200s hall, and freshmen got New York to decorate the 1500s hall. 

Although the freshmen class officers didn’t get to choose what city they wanted due to the fact that they didn’t have the officers elected at the beginning of the year, they caught up fast and decided to part their hallway into sections. Some sections included the most iconic places like Times Square, Central Park, Madison Square Garden, and more.

Sophomore class president Mars Foley was concerned about the “sophomore curse” before decorating began. A week before decorating, the sophomores only had about four students signed up to help. “Last year we did really good, but I feel like this whole ‘sophomore curse’ is starting to become a real thing,” Foley said before decorating. In the end, more sophomores than expected showed up and finished the hallway together.

The junior class was given the theme Tokyo. “We basically have 4 distinct sections planned: food, tourism, anime, things like that,” junior class president Jag Maddipatla said.  He said that the juniors hoped to decorate with “things that make Tokyo what Tokyo is.” 

Senior class vice president Alyssa Yoon bragged about senior Danny Fortuno, calling him senior class’s secret to this year’s hallway decorating competition. “We plan on working under his wing and following his instruction when it comes to the art,” Yoon said.  

Fortuno himself felt confident about his ideas for the senior hallway, “It’s going to redefine hallway decorating for Rock Ridge,” he said.

World history and AP human geography teacher and sophomore class sponsor Howard Goldberg was happy with the results of how the hallway turned out. “Just the fact that they accomplished this themselves is incredible,” Goldberg said.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Sarah Bataineh

Danny Fortuno paints fireworks alongside the senior hallway. He rushed to get the senior hall done. “As long as we get it done, and we’re having fun, that’s all that matters,” Fortuno said.