By Kelsey Shady

If you ever get the chance to walk into Spanish teacher Sue Deibner’s classroom at the end of October, you’re in for a real treat.  The Spanish four classes work long and hard to cover the walls with colorful paper, hang decorations from the ceiling and create beautiful paper flowers to make an ofrenda.

Ofrenda sare altars where you celebrate the life of a family member or friend who has passed away. They are typically decorated with photos, letters, marigolds and food such as bread of the dead and are traditional in Spanish-speaking countries.

The first hour Spanish 4 class chose to honor Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter.” They draped paper vines on the ceiling, played an old video tape in Spanish of Irwin’s TV show, and made the walls look like a jungle. “We were brainstorming ideas and Alec Krob said he had a Steve Irwin VHS so we went with it,” senior Chloe Guillaume said.

Third hour chose to honor boxing legend  Muhammed Ali. Senior Hayley Corkin drew a  larger-than-life

portrait of Ali. The group also hung paper butterflies and bees from the ceiling to represent the famous quote from Ali, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” This was the first time any Spanish class chose to honor Ali. “We wanted to do something no class had ever done before, and when someone suggested Muhammed Ali we thought of all of the possibilities we had for decorations,” sen

ior Allie Hasley said.

Sixth hour chose to honor the children’s movie Finding Nemo. “We were all thinking of different ideas, and then someone suggested Nemo and we all liked it so we did it,” senior Ellie Meineke said. Meineke brought in a live fish to add to the character of the ofrenda. They decorated with blue streamers hanging from the ceiling and brightly colored Nemo characters.

Deibner has been assigning the ofrenda project to her students since she began teaching at MVHS in 1998. “These are definitely the best ofrendas we’ve ever had; they’re bigger and more comprehensive. The fact that two out of the three groups did actual people is actually amazing because that never happens.” This year’s seniors believe that the ofrendas were so unique because of the competitive nature of the class.