They say everything’s bigger in Texas — and Chisum ISD students proved it with a 25-foot “mega mum” built for Homecoming.
The towering creation featured a 4-by-6-foot header and a flower crafted from around 850 coffee filters, held together by more staples than anyone could count.
“The dream for our first ever Mega Mum started way back in August, brainstorming with the ladies in the Admin building,” said Denise Holland. ” It was then that the idea of trying to incorporate the entire district into this creation came about. We wanted every child from Pre-K to Senior to be represented in this piece of art, if you will.”
To bring their dream to life, every student in the elementary school contributed by writing their names, favorite players, and notes of good luck on red paper shapes, which were linked together to form long paper chains.
“Pre-K through 5th grade contributed about six trash bags full of paper chains,” said Holland. “Our middle school art classes made three paper braids, added their notes of good luck, and of course included all the 6 7’s you could imagine. My high school floral design and communication classes — along with a few extra students — helped represent every extracurricular organization and sport our high school has to offer, and added even more decorative elements.”
Holland said the LED lights behind the “C” logo were a non-negotiable and of all the ways they thought to elevate the massive mum, a firetruck was the only way to go.
“The Roxton Fire Department really came in hot with providing us with the ladder truck to make our dreams a reality.”
With all the pieces ready for assembly on the big day, Holland said strong winds made it difficult to fully display the massive creation, forcing the team to switch to plan B.
“The wind made it tangle many times – putting extra stress on the paper. We lost about five strand before it ever made it up,” said Holland. “I work the clock during the games, and didn’t want to worry about pieces falling during the game so that’s when i made the decision to take the strands off and just fly the flag.”
Despite things not going exactly to plan, the community still loved the giant mum and praised the students’ creativity and hard work.
“If I dare start naming names, I’m afraid I will leave someone out….but just know, THANK YOU for your dedication and help in this project. It was truly a sight to see, and I’ve heard from several of my students already about how proud they were.”
