People from multiple countries and cultures celebrate St. Patrick's Day, just with their own twists. Evidence of this fact was visible around Blaine County on March 17. People were wearing green clothing, decorating with shamrocks, or serving menu items like corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, or pistachio pudding dessert. Others dressed up like leprechauns-those wily creatures known for their trickery-or wore themed shirts to proclaim their ethnicity: Kiss Me; I'm Irish. Some provided warnings: May be prone to Shenanigans, Hooliganism, and Malarkey.

Students, teachers, staff, and administrators in the Chinook School District came out in force with the 'wearin' o' the green.' In fact, Superintendent Fred Hofman invited the faculty and staff to participate, even incentivizing the competition with an Irish-themed prize to the "best dressed." By day's end, Mr. Devin Morris, K-12 Music Instructor, and Mrs. Julie Terry, 9-10 English Teacher emerged as winners.

In addition to wearing a leprechaun hat, green and gold top, and shamrock necklace, Mrs. Terry, who called March 17 her favorite day, had her classroom decked out with rainbows, pinwheels, garland, and other green and gold décor. She also offered cupcakes frosted with green icing and a bowl of wrapped-in gold-candies like Rolos, Hershey's miniatures, chocolate coins, and Reese's peanut butter cups. With a display configured with gold-foil balloons that read LUCKY and a backdrop of rainbow streamers outside the door to her classroom, she invited students to take a selfie. Her whiteboard shared this message: "You Shamrock my world!"

Across town on New York Street, many of the teachers at Meadowlark Elementary School spent the week doing leprechaun themed writing and art projects. These were used to decorate the hallways. For example, outside Mrs. Gibson's kindergarten classroom, leprechauns leaped, posed, or kicked their heels. Each construction paper character was accompanied by a sentence describing the artistic rendering, like this one by Lyncoln Mord: "My leprechaun is funny."

In addition to various rainbow art decking the halls and a pot of overflowing shamrocks that counted the books read by first graders, the third-graders created leprechauns with paper plates and construction paper and wrote stories about them.

According to Third Grade Teacher, Mrs. Amanda Davies, after completing the art phase of the project, she invited her students to "go on the best adventure with your leprechaun and record the trip in the form of a story."

Pepper Harwood's story featured Beatrice the leprechaun who is "as small as a jellybean and doesn't have a beard." After she and Beatrice travel to the Grand Canyon, they jump in their "Four-Leaf-Clover-Car (FLCC) to get to the Eiffel Tower in Paris." On their way home, they encounter something "that is better than gold. Chocolate!" Distracted, they barely make it home by St. Patrick's Day.

Wearing a forest green dress shirt, matching vest and hat, and sunglasses to help him spot the gold at the end of the rainbow, Mr. Devin Morris shared the "Best Dressed" Award with Mrs. Terry

Celebrating holidays not only changes the routine of one's day but adds a layer of merriment and difference. Many teachers harness the holidays, not only for their relevance but for the opportunity they provide for cultural lessons, making memories, and establishing traditions.