The Decorations Committee of CCC (Decs) is responsible for creating decorations such as display posters and table centerpieces to reinforce the event’s cruise theme.

In a dimly lit garage with the occasional natural light shining through, upbeat music played from a make-shift mug speaker while the Decs Committee worked on sketching, mixing, painting and gluing, intermittently chatting amongst themselves about school and their personal lives. This was a common scene at sophomore and committee head Shreya Mantripragada’s house, where Decs met almost weekly for the two months leading up to CCC.

According to Mantripragada, Decs was a vital CCC committee that “[brought] the entire room together” by setting the event’s atmosphere. Sophomore and chair Aryaa Pathak appreciates the people in Decs and their passion for implementing and pursuing their artistic abilities through acrylic and watercolor mediums.

MID JANUARY

Inspired by a photo senior and executive Aditi Mukkara found, Decs was able to create the main poster displayed on the right hand wall of the lobby entryway to CCC. Through the use of mostly multicolored acrylic paint and other mediums purchased from Michaels, the committee recreated a scene of a cruise ship floating on the ocean with vibrant fireworks bursting in the background.

[juxtaposition of google image and the final product]

On Jan. 12, Decs began their weekly meetings at Mantripragada’s garage to design and paint posters. In addition to hosting Decs’ painting sessions, Mantripragada also purchased the art supplies –– various colors of acrylic and metallic paint and glitter. As a returning member of the Decs Committee, Mantripragada was looking forward to being in this committee once again.

Sophomore and committee chair Lydia Lu described her first year on the committee as “really exciting.” In addition, Lu also is able to help out with an event that she volunteered at last year, contributing to Lu’s experience and engagement with CCC’s operations.

“[The Decs committee is] also good to use as a creative outlet for my ideas,” Lu said. “And [it’s] also [good for] being creative and solving problems [...] like with the budget this year. It’s also [good for] overall meeting new people and creating a new space with the ideas that I have for the event.”

Decs anticipated to finish the main large poster before February break, so they could allocate time to work on the second and third posters over the course of February break.

At their second meeting on Jan. 18, Mantripragada, Pathak, sophomore and chair Janhavi Revashetti and freshman and chair Ankita Biyani continued sketching portions of the poster as well as painting the sky with different hues of blue.

[Timelapses from 1/18]

Besides designing the posters, the Decs committee is also responsible for picking centerpieces to add flair to the tables at CCC. While nothing was finalized until mid-February, some ideas that were brainstormed used mancala beads, seashells and sand “to have an ocean and sand kind of vibe,” as Mantripragada described Decs initially wanted to use mini buoys — tiny boats floating in a bowl coupled with a flag pointing to a destination place — but had to resort to simpler and more affordable alternatives due to the limiting CCC budget. Mantripragada noted that the centerpiece will still be attractive, but won’t be as extravagant.

However, Pathak still discussed with the W&C committee about putting the baskets of food for the chocolate fountain on top of mini buoys. While Biyani and Mantripragada expressed initial excitement towards the idea, Mantripragada pointed out that the buoy decorations were very specific to the theme and would be difficult to reuse in future CCCs.

In addition, Decs also planned to place a banner that reads “Welcome Aboard” above the entrance to recreate the experience of walking onto a cruise. In order to create an “around the world vibe,” the committee attached string flags of each country that came out of the poster, as if the visitors were traveling to those countries.

LATE JANUARY/EARLY FEBRUARY

Decs finished painting the sky, which transitioned from a darker blue to a lighter white. They began to add fireworks using gold, blue, pink, purple and turquoise metallic paint to fill the empty sky. Decs’ goal was to complete painting the fireworks and the glittery CCC title, as well as apply additional touch ups.

A week later, at the Decs meeting on Jan. 26, Decs used Mod Podge to stick on holographic flakes and glitter onto the poster to further accentuate the realism of the fireworks. They also painted on tiny white stars in the sky and added more fireworks.

[Timelapses from 1/26]

Mantripragada expressed her overall excitement for the CCC event and the decorations she helped create.

“You feel really good because in CCC, it’s really good to see how your decorations brings everything together,” Mantripragada said. “Seeing that piece by piece is a good feeling.”

After taking a break the weekend of Feb. 1-2 due to schedule conflicts, Decs resumed their work on Feb. 9, adding the mountains and starting the water with a blue paint base.

Throughout the painting process, members of the committee noticed that their personal schedules and commitments occasionally conflicted with the meeting times, resulting in fluctuating committee attendance. Because the members went “back and forth,” Revashetti notes that the committee’s would have been more productive if meeting turnout was more consistent. While Lu acknowledged this to be the case, she remained optimistic of their progress.

“I know that every time we meet up, we always get a lot done,” Lu said. “It's just a lot of us are busy, so it stands as an obstacle. But when all of us come together, I feel like we can get a lot done in a single meeting.”

MID FEBRUARY

With CCC quickly approaching, the first poster was a work-in-progress, and there was no visible progress on the other two posters. Decs hoped to take advantage of the February break to increase the frequency of the meetings to finish the posters on time.

Here’s a photo recap of what happened during the Feb. 16 meeting.

[2/16 juxtaposition?]

The final plan with the buoy decorations was proposed by Mantripragada on Feb. 16. She purchased the buoys off of Amazon. They were eventually placed them on either side of the open door leading into the dining room.

Decs began the second poster on Feb. 18 and worked on it for the rest of the month. During the Feb. 21 meeting, Revashetti worked on the font, lettering and glittery effects of the word “cruise,” while Mantripragada sketched and eventually painted the black anchors, outlined with white acrylic paint, with junior and chair Bandhavya Parvathaneni. The second poster was completed the following Monday.

[2/21 meeting video]

Over the course of February break, Pathak created tiny flags — which would eventually be a part of the centerpieces — by using markers to color country flag designs onto pieces of paper and then binding them onto toothpicks. Although Decs had not finalized the centerpieces plan at that point, the committee anticipated the centerpieces to be round glass bowls filled with blue mancala beads drizzled with sand and topped with golden-wrapper almond chocolate.

Photo #1

Photo #2

^Wineglass centerpieces were placed on every dining table at the event, furnished with mini country flags in each, which sophomore and chair Aryaa Pathak made by hand. Photo by

THE WEEK OF CCC

On Feb. 24, the Monday before CCC, Decs met up once more and added extra lines to the main poster’s glittery fireworks to make them stand out. The committee also completed the second poster by finishing the red anchors and adding a white border to them. In addition, Decs outlined parts of the cursive “cruise” and added white-colored stars in the background.

^At CCC, senior Kreena Parikh holds a prop as she poses in front of the finished “CCC Cruise” poster. Photo by Annie Zhang

On Feb. 28, the night before CCC, Decs met up at Mantripragada’s house one last time to perfect the main display poster. Because the main poster was the “meat” of the committee's efforts, Decs prioritized and committed more time to fine-tuning and refining the poster’s color blending. The third poster was simpler in composition in comparison to the main poster’s complexity. Parvathaneni started the third and final poster the afternoon before CCC by outlining the top of the poster in solid blue.

^Sophomore Janhavi Revashetti squeezes blue acrylic paint onto her paint plate, preparing to finish up the main cruise poster. Photo by Annie Zhang

The third poster was hung over the dining room entrance and will display the words “WELCOME ABOARD” to fit the cruise theme. The committee also strung miniature flags from around the world across the poster’s edges.

^After starting the poster the day before CCC and finishing it the afternoon on the day of CCC, the “WELCOME ABOARD” poster was hung above the dining room entrance. Photo by Annie Zhang

While the committee finished the blue border and lettering during the Friday meeting, finishing touches –– the anchor and life preserver –– were added to the third poster in the early afternoon before CCC.

Besides the posters, there were many other decorations prepared by the Decs Committee — mini buoys and silver and blue glittery anchor cutouts — hung and plastered to the walls and doors of Quinlan Community Center to enhance the CCC experience. Members of other committees and volunteers pitched in to help with set up.

Here is a photo recap of the preparation the day of the event.

Reflecting on the two-month-long process of decorations prep for CCC, Mantripragada noted that the best part of Decs was befriending new people of varying grade levels. Parvathaneni agreed with this sentiment, noting that she and Mantripragada never would have conversed during school if they weren’t grouped into the same CCC committee. Through Decs, the pair strengthened their friendship after discovering that they are both the “exact same person” — watching many of the same TV shows and sharing many interests.

As Decs’s poster preparations came to a close, Mantripragada expressed that working with the committee was fun, as she enjoyed “every single piece” of the planning, painting and commitment. While time management posed to be a struggle for the committee, Decs was able to cooperate due to the committee’s team strengths — love, collaboration and respect for one another.

“CCC is just so much fun, and seeing how your work can be put together in a really cool way is just so interesting,” Mantripragada said. “It was cool to see how all of our hard work in Decs was able to be appreciated by a large crowd of people.”

^ Junior Anika Deshpande takes a photo of juniors Emma Schuyler and Pallavi Srinivas in front of the finalized main cruise poster at CCC. Photo by Annie Zhang