Door Decorating Contest

"Rooted & Rising Together" 

Decorations Creative Processes

Contest participants contributed descriptions of their creative and sustainability processes below. Categories listed in descriptions reflect what the creators had in mind when decorating their department area, not necessarily what category they may or may not have won. 

Associated Students

Nelson Hall West 2nd Floor

A.S. couldn't fit over 100 years of history on one door, so we opted for the space between two doors (aka the wall between the door of the Women's Resource Center and the Men's Bathroom...feel free to visit either when you come check out our cool exhibition). 

Our display shows that we are deeply rooted to the space we use for our higher learning by including the Associated Students Land Acknowledgement, and connected to our organization's history by displaying archival A.S. materials - we even have a comprehensive list of A.S. Presidents dating back to 1914!  We are rising to meet future needs of students by allocating their student fee dollars to support the ever-changing needs and advocating on their behalf.  A.S. continues to strive for togetherness by pushing for improvements and participating in shared governance on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus.   

This display was made primarily with materials found in the R.O.S.E. house and not one cent was spent in pursuit of this particular project.  It is the result of a collaboration of many A.S. Board members and student assistants. 

-Chelsea Belden, Board Coordinator & Team

CAHSS

College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences: Gist Hall, Room 125

Category: Overall

We decorated all three bulletin boards outside the Dean's Office in Gist Hall 125.  All three include raccoons and crabs wearing cute t-shirts and bandanas that tie into the themes.  We have also included signs with each of the themes.

The flowers are buttons that incorporate everything that makes up the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences!  There is a flower for each major, facility, publication, podcast, and study abroad location. After the contest, each flower will be turned into a magnet and given away.

-Sandra Brekke, Office Coordinator & Team

Curriculum Department

Siemens Hall 218

Theme category: "Rooted"

The artwork was donated by Khristan Lamb's daughter and her third grade classmates at Union Street Charter School in Arcata. 

-Khristan Lamb, Curriculum Analyst

Child Development, Indian Education

Harry Griffith Hall Room 218

The Child Development door was created by American Indian Education (AIE) students and the Child Development Team. A guiding philosophy of the Child Development Department is to embrace diversity by nurturing mulitogical thinking whereby multiple perspectives and worldviews can not only co-exist but can enrich each other. The hands on the door represent a worldview of a student while the fingertips represent their core values or self-concept. While "no two hands are exactly alike", difference is not a deficit, we can "embrace diversity". A second component to the door emphasizes "Rooted and Rising" by illustrating our department's commitment to valuing the resilience, trauma, and intergenerational strengths of the Wiyot- the original caretakers of the land which Cal Poly Humboldt resides, as well as the surrounding Indigenous communities. 

-Dr. Kishan Lara-Cooper (Yurok/Hupa/Karuk), Professor/Chair and Team

EMSS

Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success: Student Business Services, Suite 311

Only paint was purchased for the door decorating and was made out of recycled/upcycled materials and things on hand:

All Recycled: Amazon bubble wrap and foam, egg carton, paper towel cardboard tubes, paper (outdated HSU letterhead for an old department, junk mail, receipts), disposal chopsticks, packing tape, posters

Other materials: 

yarn scraps
Redwood tree bark & ferns from a tree trimming
Pizza box
Found objects
Candy wrappers
Bottle cap

All of the people in the office participated and provided different contributions, such as gathering branches from backyards, doing slug slime papier-mâché, etc.

-Mona Pargee, Student Marketing Coordinator & Team

Graduate Studies Department

Siemens Hall 217A

Grad Studies focused more on the Rising, imagining each Instructional Report Theme as a constellation.  The picture does not capture the many textures of the decor.  The black paper is stitched with yarn.  The textbook paper comes from a discarded textbook about mapping.  The large white stars are made from discarded letterhead.   

-Samantha Williams, Analyst

Human Resources

Siemens Hall 212

We aimed for the "Rooted" theme, with a touch of "Rising". The door consists of all repurposed and recycled materials from the office or people's homes to showcase significant flora and fauna around Humboldt County. We also included examples of previous significant events at the roots, where these events are now (as well as other significant events that have occurred recently at the university) along the trunk, and future goals or plans for the University along the tree crown.

-Maylin On, Representative & Team

INRSEP/COMPASS

Department: Indian Natural Resources, Sciences, & Engineering Program / COMPASS: Feuerwerker House

Category: Together

To be Together is to recognize the collaborative spirit that defines INRSEP / COMPASS. Our student and staff designed door is made from reused materials and represents our programs as a sustainable tree rooted in the diverse communities, and up through the university (the trunk), branches our programs... and through their majors (depicted as leaves), our students are thriving as STEM STARS! Our staff and programs place special emphasis on serving first generation, diverse, and low-income STEM students in an equitable collaboration, together with our Native and local Communities and Organizations (and plastic skeleton Rosalinda), we honor our environment and cultural heritages.

-Nanette Durbin, Coordinator/Advisor & Team

Library

Room 108

At the Library and across Cal Poly Humboldt we are rooted in collaboration, community, knowledge, support, creativity, and access for all students. Together we rise, each in our own unique way. Like redwoods, tulips, roses, daisies, we each thrive because of our shared connections and collective care. Our strength comes from working together, and we rise as a community. 

Creative process: 

We used upcycled, sustainable materials from the Library Makerspace to create a split scene of the world above and below ground. Below, the roots represent the unseen connections that support our students, our collaborative partnerships grounded in knowledge, community, creativity, support, and access. Above, the plants and ecosystems, redwoods, wildflowers, and more, show what can grow and thrive because of that foundation. Each one is reaching upward, made possible by strong, connected roots.

-Jessica Welch, Organizational Development & Engagement Coordinator, Library Scholar Internship Coordinator

Co-contributors: Madison McLaughlin, Tabitha Di Domenico, & River Blair

ODEI

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Siemens Hall 

Our tree trunk display features some of ODEI’s financial sponsorships provided to
organizations, such as “Black Liberation Month” and “CA Indian Big Time and Social Gathering”.
These sponsorships branch out into ever-developing projects, such as our most popular
workshop “Institutional Ethics of Care”, which orients leaders to a supervisory model grounded
in a philosophy encouraging humble inquiry, inclusive connection, and responsive action.
Our office utilized recycled paper bags to construct the display, and we used our “Listen,
Collaborate, and Transform” motto to envision a garden composed of challenges that Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion principles could transform into student success stories, such as improved
retention, graduation, and career preparation. We encouraged our community to list some of the
many campus organizations and programs that contribute to this garden, thus reflecting our
collective efforts to listen, collaborate, and transform.

-Andrea Santamaria, Logistics and Implementation Coordinator & Team

Supplemental Instruction: 

The Learning Center: Library 112

Our door represents all the themes:

Rooted: In the roots of our tree you can see all the majors of Cal Poly Humboldt as this tree is rooted in scholarship.

Rising: The Supplemental Instruction classes support students in learning challenging academic content so that they can achieve academically, empowering students to achieve their goals and providing new opportunities.

Together: Learning is better together: The branches are the arms of the Supplemental Instruction program and divides support by content. The SI Leaders hold up, encourage and support students in their academics and share strategies to learn the content. They aim to cultivate a community of learners where students learn actively and collaboratively together (and have fun while doing it).

The leaves are all the different and unique students on our campus that add to the beauty of this place as a whole.

-Arianna Thobaben, Supplemental Instruction Coordinator 

Team Door Decorating: Isabel Goins-Riley, Vivian Skeate

Y.E.S.

Youth Educational Services: Lower Library, Suite 1 on the south side of the building adjacent to Laurel Drive

Theme: Rooted

The Y.E.S. door was designed to showcase trillium, a native flower that blooms in the redwood forests each spring.  

The roots of the trillium design represent the community values at Y.E.S.: collaboration, inclusion, curiosity, respect, caring and support

The trillium flowers rising towards the sky represent what students gain from their Y.E.S. experience: experiential learning, student leadership, professional development, and sense of belonging.

-Melea Smith, Coordinator & Team

Department of Wildlife 

Wildlife and Fisheries building in the hallway outside of WDFS 230. 

The Department of Wildlife's board focuses on the Rooted and Rising themes by showcasing our students engaged in research and field work in the redwoods and other habitats in Humboldt,  including students using innovative technology to survey wildlife. We featured recent alumni to show current and prospective students possible future career paths in wildlife. We repurposed photos from a previous banner and used recycled materials to support our Department's commitment to sustainability. 

-Barbara Clucas, Department Chair and Associate Professor & Team

Thank you all for your engagement!