People from all over the world say that the best way to celebrate the holidays is to give back to your community and your friends. Whether it is a small gift card or a written letter, there are many of ways to celebrate the holidays and to appreciate your friends and family. However, in a world where money buys so little, many people would argue that a hand-made gift is much more valuable than a store-bought present.
This year, starting at the end of November, Mrs Kauffman—the Norwin High School librarian—is hosting an upcycling contest in the library, where students can create decorations during their study halls to receive a chance at winning a $25 gift card of their choice.
During the holidays, it is widely known for people to decorate to celebrate the holiday season and get into the Christmas mood. The high school is no different—with students and teachers decorating their lockers and doors to make for a more enjoyable couple of weeks before the break. In the library, Mrs. Kauffman—the high school librarian—always tries to decorate for the holiday season and set up a book recommendation station for each season during the school year. However, since unique materials for decor are sometimes hard to come by and costly, Mrs. Kauffman decided to sponsor an upcycling contest in the library for students to showcase a creative outlet.
“We’ve been upcycling pretty much since I took over as librarian,” said Mrs. Kauffman. “I noticed that we have a lot of things that we wind up discarding, that seem like they could have an alternate use. So, we’ve been trying to make use of these discarded materials for a dozen years or so.”
A variety of the crafts that Mrs. Kauffman helped the students with came directly from the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse—an organization in Pittsburgh that promotes sustainability through in-person crafts and creative experiences. The Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse is open to the public from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM every day of the week. Daily, the organization accepts donations from outside sources and hosts events for children and adults to create different unique decorations for the holiday season.
”I did not come up with the idea of upcycling in general: I had the opportunity to volunteer briefly with the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse,” said Mrs. Kauffman. “I got to learn some of the basics from them and saw that we have a lot of things here (in the library) to upcycle.”
Whether it is in their study halls or after school, many students stay in the library to work on several different crafts—upcycling materials from the library in the process. Elizabeth Petteway, a junior at the high school, made a Balkan ornament and used an abundance of materials from the library that were accessible to her.
“I made the best rendition of a traditional Balkan ornament, usually it is made with gingerbread and then decorated, but I used upcycled newspaper as the base,” said Petteway. “I made my design using upcycled newspaper, twine, and ribbon. I thought it was fun to try and recreate some of my culture using upcycled materials.”
Other crafts were also created by student library aides or Knight Readers members, like a large green wreath and a stack of books painted and tied together with a bow.
In order to vote for the best upcycled decoration piece, Mrs. Kauffman made sure that both students and teachers would both have an opinion on who created the best design.
“This year, since it was the first time, I took pictures of all of the submissions, while keeping the creators anonymous, and sent them to the staff to vote on a Google Form,” said Mrs. Kauffman. “I also wanted to make sure that I gave students the chance to vote through the same method so that we can easily make sure that they are only voting once.”
Right before the winter break, on December 19, the winners of the upcycling contest were announced on KWIN and sent to all students through a media blast. Senior Aurora Penrose took the Grand Prize for making an apple wreath, and sophomore Jillian Ryba won an Honorable Mention for her coffee creamer snowman. After the winners were announced, all students who made a holiday decoration using upcycled materials were encouraged to stop down in the library to pick up a certificate of participation.