Every year around the holidays, Christmas decorations appear around campus.  Although they may pass by them every day on their way to class, students may not know the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting them up. 

This year, Vice Principal Mr. Jere Kubuske was in charge of Christmas decorations for the first time. 

He said, “I learned from Dr. Tom Greer who was in charge of  it for years, what the expectations are. I was responsible for pulling decorations out of the attic, getting the manger set up, getting the tree set up in the atrium, getting the garland put around the campus, and stuff like that.”

Kubuske may be in charge of decorations, but he is not alone in putting the decorations up and has many people who helped him put them up. 

He said, “I hung the wreaths outside by myself. I had to hang from windows to do it. For the tree out in the atrium, I had some help from Mr. Dennis Thomas, the other vice principal. The indoor garland I did by myself. I had a some volunteer students and parents help with the garland outside. The manger we had our maintenance guys set up.”

Kubuske said that even though Christmas decorations may seem like they make up a small part of school culture, they are still important to the school’s values. 

Kubuske said, “It’s Jesus’s birthday, right? I mean, we’re a Catholic school, so we need to be celebratory of His big day. I think it’s nice for our kids, too, because it brings some positivity to our campus.”

Because this is Kubuske’s first year in this role, he has brought a new perspective and a few changes to the way the campus is decorated. He said, “We’ve done more in the front of the school, and we have a brand new tree at the front entrance. We decorated the main entrance with some poinsettias and some different things just to liven it up for visitors as they come in.”

A teacher also donated five red poinsettias that have been placed at the altar in the chapel.

 Kubuske said, “I will say that there have been discussions about adding a little bit of money, not a lot, to the budget next year to maybe do some things with some lights outside or replacing some of the garland that has gotten older. I don’t think it’s necessarily important to get more (decorations) because we have to be smart about where we’re putting our money. But people get so excited about Christmas time, and they want to help and volunteer and donate time and resources. 

“We want to encourage that spirit of positivity. It’s always good to look at ways to improve on things. I’m lucky to be in this new position where I can come at things from a different perspective,” he said.

Kubuske said that his role of being in charge of Christmas decorations was more challenging than he expected. 

“I had no idea how much there was. We have so much garland it’s not even funny. I just didn’t realize how much stuff we had. But we have this huge campus that we have to decorate, so it’s probably not that surprising.  As a teacher or a student you don’t necessarily think about what goes into putting these decorations up, you just walk into school and they’re just there. It’s a lot of hours and a lot of effort to get this stuff out and put it up and eventually take it back down again,” he said. 

However, Kubuske said that he feel that the hard work is worth it. 

He said, “I hope that students enjoy it and it brings a little bit of Christmas cheer to them as they walk around campus and get ready for finals because it’s a stressful time.”