Judges awarded Southwest Pre-Kindergarten first place in the First Annual Holiday Decoration Competition Wednesday that won all-around praise from Superintendent M. Annette Cluff.
The efforts of the students and staff earned the winning campus $500, a half-day off from school, a poster signifying its first-place finish and an award certificate.
Teachers and students clapped and celebrated when campus assistant director Melissa Cluff made the announcement in the multi-purpose room.
The three judges awarded Southwest Pre-K 100 points. The East Campus, led by director Gayle Voltz, finished second with 96 points and the Southwest Campus, headed by director Dora Morrow, came in third with 91.3 points.
The judges assigned points based on the following criteria:
1. Originality: Unique design and creative use of lights and decorations.
2. Arrangement: Display and placement of decorations.
3. Theme: Story line or scene.
4. Overall presentation.
For its second place finish, East earned $250, a dress-down day and an award certificate, while Southwest earned $100, a free breakfast for staff and an award certificate.
The Northeast Campus finished 4th with 88.3 points; the Administration Building 5th with 87 points and the Southwest Cafeteria 6th with 83 points. All will be given award certificates.
"Your campuses did an awesome job," Mrs.Cluff told the directors of each campus in a hastily-called meeting. "You all did a good job in getting people to work together."
She also praised the directors for "generating a lot of enthusiasm and fun" and she encouraged the staff to keep the decorations when they take them down on Dec. 17.
The judges met for about 20 minutes in the administration conference room before handing the results to Mrs. Cluff. They were Jackie Handy, senior consultant for Impact Strategies Consultants; English Jackson, regional vice president of sales for Triumph Learning, and Lynda Keene, president of Allegiance Bank in Bellaire. Varnett would like to thank them for their time and hard work.
Click here for Northeast pictures