With the holidays rolling around, every Pace division has traditions that are starting to take place. The lower school’s Holiday Program and the Middle School’s annual showing of The Grinch are some of the kept traditions students look forward to. However, the Upper School is lacking its own traditions, which begs the question of what and who would participate in a holiday tradition. The first step in determining an Upper School tradition is ensuring that we have the best possible Santa Claus.
When 20 Upper School students were asked who they think the best Santa Clause would be out of all the faculty, answers ranged from Coach Kev to Mr. Ball to Mr. Assaf. Students’ votes depended on a wide variety of factors, from job, looks, and overall personality. There was a clear winner, though, with this history teacher receiving three times as many votes as any other staff member. A mix of sophomores and juniors all agreed that history teacher, Tim Hornor, would make the best Santa Claus for the Pace Upper School. To ensure that Mr. Hornor would be up for the challenge, he was asked a series of very important questions, such as his reaction to being chosen for Santa. “I would be a better Scrooge,” said Mr. Hornor, although he did say that he was “very honored to be chosen as Santa Claus.” After he got over the initial shock, he was asked what type of cookie he would be looking forward to on Christmas Eve. “Chocolate chip, but none of that dark chocolate rubbish, it has to be Milk chocolate. And none of the vegan rubbish either, a milk chocolate, sugar-filled cookie,” answered Mr. Hornor. Finally, we asked what the best present he would bring to children, and in true history teacher fashion, he answered with “a signed copy of the ‘Tale of Two Cities’.”
Behind Mr. Hornor in the rankings of Santa Claus, there was a three-way tie. One of these runner-ups was English teacher, Dr. Brooks, who at first was not very pleased with the results. “It sounds like I need to go to the gym more,” said Dr. Brooks right after hearing he was in contention for playing Santa Claus. However, very quickly, he added, “I hope it reflects my generous spirit.” The Pace Upper School certainly has no shortage of possibilities for a Santa Claus in the future; the only question is who will it be?
