Starting on October 21, Davie High students and staff started to see childhood photos of their teachers on the TVs around the school. Near the pictures outside of teachers’ doors were QR codes that, when scanned, would pull up a survey and a hint. The hint was a picture of another teacher, so a clue that the child in the picture wasn’t them. But who was it? That was the challenge presented by the Learning Without Borders PLT, who asked Davie High students and staff a simple question: “Hey Boo, Who’s Who?”
The idea was formed by English teacher Ashley Snider after being sent a GIF of Dopey, one of the seven dwarves. This made her recall a childhood costume of hers, and the thought appeared that no one would expect her to have chosen that costume when she was a kid. Next came the hard part: finding teachers who were willing to participate, which didn’t go quite as expected. While tons of Davie High staff were interested, many couldn’t find any childhood Halloween photos. The teachers who could, though, were incredibly enthusiastic.
One of the most enthusiastic was Donna Dunn, a freshman academy English teacher. As a lover of all things Halloween, Dunn shared with Snider how much she loved seeing her coworkers as little kids dressed up. Snider shared a little bit of their interactions.
“She kept asking, ‘Can teachers play this game? Can teachers play this game?’ And wanted to,” said Snider. “She’s very, very eager.”
With a total of 24 teachers participating, the game became quite challenging. But for the top five students, $25 gift cards were on the line for those with the most correct guesses. This competition quickly became intense. Students and staff were trying to pry information out of anyone they could. Principal Michael Pruitt said that he heard stories of students introducing themselves to other students and faculty that they may not have previously known, all in the hopes of identifying a teacher. Along with introducing themselves, some students attempted to bribe teachers. While this may not have been successful, it brought laughter and smiles to many students.
Bribery was not the only accusation of cheating. Principal Michael Pruitt noted that this game brought out a competitive streak in the front office and that he had never seen the front office staff work so hard on a project. As a result of this intense competition, administrative assistant Jackie Gonzalez was accused of sneaking a peek at the answers. With Gonzalez being in charge of what goes on the TVs around the school, most people assumed she had seen the pictures and the answers before others, so many were shocked when she participated. Thus, rumors of cheating were born, but Gonzalez is determined to prove her innocence.
“Yes, I put the pictures up on the board,” Gonzalez said. “Yes, I had direct contact with Mrs. Snider. But we did not cheat. We worked together as a team, and there’s people that are sore losers, and that’s it.”
After a week of competition and a furious hunt for clues, the winners were announced on Halloween: Journey Bowman, Xander Shinsky, Myka Smith, Kaleigh Allen, and Jasmine Brickey. These students had the most accurate guesses, with Bowman even earning a perfect score.
While the Learning Without Borders PLT was pleased with the results of this Halloween challenge, they do hope that future competitions can bring out even greater student participation. In total, 44 participants completed the challenge. While the team is excited that they got any participation at all and that they heard people enjoyed the competition, they do wish there had been a bit more engagement. The team is currently planning a new challenge that they hope to debut closer to Winter Break.
DIGITAL BOARD REVEAL Hey Boo, That’s Who! by Ashley Snider[/infographic]