Students finish the semester in the Christmas spirit

Christmas hit the MVNU campus long before students departed for break.

Some students, like freshman Rachel Puderbaugh, started decorating for the holiday two months in advance.

“I really, really, really love Christmas, and I was so excited to decorate our door that I did it on Halloween night because I just could not wait!” Puderbaugh said.

While Puderbaugh and her roommate went with the classic wrapping paper coated door, Rachel Rinehart and Tiffany Lawrence took a more creative route.

“Ours is different because it’s “Stranger Things,” but with a Christmas-y twist,” Rinehart said. “It gets us into the Christmas spirit every time we walk into our room.”

Jonah Rhymer, an RA in Rosewood, suggested a Christmas competition across all apartment areas.

The Resident Directors loved the idea and put it into action.

“We love Christmas and thought that making the most of our time here before Christmas break would make the campus look so bright and magical,” explained the Maplewood/Elmwood RD Annabelle Harray.

The competition motivated seniors Alex Mazzocco (Elmwood) and Courtney Bowman (Rosewood) to decorate their apartments to win the competition.

Senior Kassidy Meek (Rosewood) was probably one of the most excited people on campus to decorate her apartment. Meek brought an entire suitcase of decorations with her back from Thanksgiving break.

With all the apartment areas on board, the contest results came in the last week of fall semester.

The Elmwood apartments won the award for Most Extravagant. Birch won Most Community Involvement, and Rosewood 302, made up of Tova Ray, Holly Bach, Megan Perdue, Emma Tellitocci, Courtney Bowman and Kassidy Meek, won Most Christmas Spirit for their live nativity scene.

“I was very impressed with the effort that everyone put in! It just added an extra bit of excitement and happiness leading up to break, and seemed to lift the moods of everyone stressed for finals,” Harray said.