As you enter Woodland Regional High School is a steep driveway lined by lamp posts that provide light during the nighttime. These lamp posts are also the perfect spot for advertisements in the form of banners that are available to any club, sport, parent, or student who wants one. 

Woodland’s Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) created a system in which banners are available to purchase. The standardized design includes the Woodland logo as well as the name that the consumer chooses, whether it is their name or the organization they sponsor. All of the banners will be displayed on lamp posts that go up the Woodland driveway, near the courtyard, and back parking lot. When the banners are displayed, the PTO plans to keep sports banners near their specific sports entrances; for example, swimming and basketball will be near the pool and gym entrances.

The banners cost $175 each and 39 have already been sold. Some sponsors include the Booster Club, families, Board of Education members, other PTOs, the fire department, the police department, and St. Anthony’s church. 

“It’s a real community project,” said Wendy Hopkinson, Co-President of the PTO. According to Hopkinson, 11 more banners are still available to be sold and even more could be produced if needed. They have hopes of being able to sell those last banners within the next few weeks. Although the PTO is the one who is running the project, the money collected is not being used by the PTO. 

“It’s actually not a fundraiser for PTO. I’m really just trying to break-even,” said Hopkinson. “It’s just something we wanted to do for the Woodland students and faculty. We thought it would look really nice and would say a lot about the school. We had hopes that it would also bring in some more school spirit.”

The PTO made this banners system only so that Woodland’s students, faculty, and families can enjoy them without any benefit to themselves. They originally got this idea from seeing similar banners at Oxford.

“Both of my sons have played soccer for Woodland and when we went to soccer games at Oxford High School we’d seen [the banners] and it was a similar driveway so we just thought it would be something nice,” Hopkinson said. “So I took it to PTO as an idea, and they supported the project.”

Anyone who is interested in buying a banner from the PTO can contact Hopkinson at 203-910-3276 or they can contact any member of the PTO board.