The saying “everything is bigger in Texas” has new meaning now that the Ricebirds have created a 19 ft. tall mum for homecoming.
Ag Science teachers Casey Wilson and Anna Zahn worked with 200 students from eight periods of floral design classes at El Campo High School to create what they are calling a mega mum.
The homecoming mums are a long standing tradition in Texas, dating back to the 1930s, and students learned the history of mums before creating their own.
“They learned mum making techniques by constructing their own mum. Making a mum takes a lot of measuring, cutting, stapling and hot gluing,” Wilson said.
Students from each of the floral design periods tackled parts of the project and pulled it all together in three days, the creation towering 19 ft.
Wilson said they were all grateful to the ag mechanics class for cutting out the 4 ft. plywood circle to make the top of the mum and the Derby Doll team for loaning them the pom poms for the flower section.
The schools maintenance department played a critical role in hanging the mega mum in the gymnasium in time for the pep rally on Friday. It will be moved to the football field for the homecoming game.
“We are thankful for all the help. The students had a blast with this project,” Wilson said.
Wilson and Zahn tried to involve all floral design students on the project even if it was just cutting paper, tracing projected art or gluing ribbons.
Wilson contacted Jenna Zabodyn of the Derby Dolls to tell her they were going to make a mega mum this year and she let them borrow the poms.
“Otherwise we would have had to fill the middle part, or the flower of the mum, with thousands of coffee filters. I am personally very thankful for the pom poms,” Wilson said.
Mega mums are trending in popularity right now and some of them can cost hundreds of dollars if purchased. Wilson told students they were going to construct one this year and they learned how traditional mums were made first.
“They were super excited and contributed a lot of good ideas. Since it was our first year we all worked together to make the end result,” Wilson said.
The mum will be taken down after the game. The plywood will be stored and the pom poms returned to the Dolls, but the bottom of the creation is made out of ribbon and bulletin board paper and that will be trashed.
“Although this is our first mega mum, I’m sure it won’t be our last. We thank the administration for allowing the students to take on this task. It was a fun one,” Wilson said.