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Lehighton students build set for Homecoming experience

Homecoming at Lehighton Area High School is more than just a dance — it’s an experience.

It’s also a chance each year for the student body to showcase its creativity and hard work by building an elaborate set that transforms the dance site into a uniquely magical space.

Lehighton seniors Anna Howland and Natalie Blair said this year’s dance theme, “Garden of Mystique,” has been brought to life through countless hours of effort, collaboration, and artistic vision.

“We don’t necessarily go into it with a theme idea,” Howland said. “We all kind of decide that we want one thing.”

This year, that “one thing” was a staircase that arches together in the center, allowing students to walk up the steps for dramatic effect. The staircase, which will be on full display during Saturday night’s dance in the high school gym, was inspired by European architecture that many students observed on a summer school trip.

Blair echoed the excitement of working on such an ambitious project.

“We brainstormed all summer about what we were going to do,” she said.

By the time the school year started, the seniors had a solid vision. With the help of their teacher and advisor, Robert Barowski, who “does a lot of the math and makes it an actual blueprint,” they started building the set on the auditorium stage about a month before homecoming. The set, made of separate pieces, would eventually be transported to the gym to be reassembled.

“This year’s set is a lot bigger than anything we’ve ever done before,” Blair said. “It extends onto the dance floor, bringing students closer together and enhancing the overall atmosphere.”

The set-building process is truly a community effort, the students said. While the senior class takes the lead, students from other classes, alumni, and even teachers pitch in to help.

“A lot of the woodshop students will help us out,” Howland said, pointing out that students from the National Art Honor Society also contributed to painting the elaborate set pieces. The attention to detail is striking, as each stone in the set is “hand-shaded and painted.”

Building a set of this magnitude is no small task, and the students dedicate a significant amount of time to the project.

Howland and Blair, along with other student volunteers, spend five to six hours after school each day working on the set.

“Mr. Barowski is here at least until nine every night,” Howland said.

While the final product is a stunning visual masterpiece, the process of creating it has its challenges. For the students, one of the hardest parts is bringing Barowski’s vision to life.

“He knows exactly what it’s going to look like, but we aren’t really sure at the beginning,” Howland said. However, as the set takes shape, the students begin to see how their hard work is paying off.

“Once you get to a point like this, where it’s almost halfway done, you can start to see how it’s going to turn out.”

Though the work is grueling, the sense of accomplishment is undeniable.

“It’s so rewarding and amazing to look at,” Blair said, describing the moment when the set is finally completed. “But then something even better is Saturday, when we get here watching everyone else walk in and they’re just amazed and they don’t understand how we did it.”

The materials used for the set are a mix of new and reused items. Many pieces, such as the wood and larger structures, are repurposed from previous years.

“The wood might be seven years old,” Blair said, explaining that they keep as much as possible to save costs.

The flowers and other decorative elements, however, are new and selected to match the theme.

“We planned the colors out to match the gossamer fabric,” Blair added.

The set also includes a carriage and gazebo rented from Country Junction.

“We make at least $6,000 selling tickets, and then we have our concessions,” Blair said of how students raise money.

The homecoming set not only makes the dance more memorable for students, but it also encourages school pride and fosters a sense of community.

“I think another impact is we get a lot more students attending our homecoming than most of the other schools our size,” Blair said.

This year, over 420 tickets had already been sold by lunchtime on the day of the interview, a significant number given the school’s total enrollment of around 580 students.

Having attended other schools’ homecoming dances, Howland and Blair realize how much more special their own feels because of the set.

“It makes homecoming here an experience,” Blair said.

Natalie Blair, left, and Anna Howland, sit in a carriage that will be part of Lehighton Area High School dance set on Saturday. Each year, Lehighton students construct a set to match the theme of the homecoming dance. This year’s theme is Gardens of Mystique. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Lehighton Area High School students, under the direction of student council advisor Robert Barowski, work Friday on the castle setting that will serve as the centerpiece of the school’s homecoming dance Saturday. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Bekim Cokrlija holds a piece of lumber Friday as he and other Lehighton Area High School students put the finishing touches on the school’s homecoming dance set.