Irvington’s courtyard transformed into New York, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Paris with with each day over the course of Homecoming week. Each class adorned the courtyard with both iconic landmarks and detailed embellishments representing their city. All the decorations were products of the bench building process which took months of planning by each class.

The junior class highlighted the cultural aspects of Tokyo by showcasing huge bento boxes and a red bridge with a traditional pagoda in the background. Lanterns and paper cranes were strung across the courtyard. The sophomores accentuated the natural beauties of Rio de Janeiro with tropical trees and animals, while the freshmen focused more on historically famous monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Pyramid of Paris. The seniors replicated the fast-paced metropolis of New York City by constructing models of the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and a waterfall from Central Park.

The bench building process definitely involved overcoming many obstacles. All of the class officers agreed that economizing materials and encouraging participation proved to be difficult.

“Early on, we got a lot of cardboard boxes and art materials, but not enough wood,” said Ethan. “By the second meeting, we [realized] that we couldn’t build what we wanted without asking for donations of wood and purchasing some. We also needed precise measurements so that our purchase could be cost-efficient.”

In addition, Homecoming week was set for a month earlier than usual. Therefore, all of the class officers decided in June that it would be best to kick-off bench building within a month after school ended. To align with this, bench building started in early summer, a month before the normal start of bench building.

Despite these obstacles, the Homecoming bench decorations definitely brought another dimension to the homecoming spirit week and never fail to bring each class closer to each other.