Watch principal bring ‘elf on the shelf’ to life with some duct tape and creativity
With brightly colored duct tape, a fire truck and some creativity, a principal brought “elf on the shelf” to life for students at a school in Indiana, video shows.
Beth Hoeing was online when she saw the “elf on the shelf” Christmas holiday tradition — in which an elf from the North Pole is found in various spots of a home to make sure children are well-behaved — and was inspired.
“If I’m ever lucky enough to serve as a school principal, I’m gonna do that for my students,” she recalled thinking to McClatchy News.
Now, during her first year as principal of the Southwestern Consolidated Schools of Shelby County, she’s done exactly that.
Hoeing donned an elf costume and started some holiday “shenanigans,” the school wrote on Facebook.
One day, Hoeing greeted students while taped to a wall, a TikTok video posted by a teacher shows. Another time, she’s seen waving from inside a trophy case. A student walks by the “elf” sleeping under a blanket on top of a buffet cart in the cafeteria, video shows. Hoeing stayed there for 30 minutes to avoid getting up while a student could see her. Another clip shows her copying her face on the copier.
“Tell me you have the coolest principal without telling me you have the coolest principal,” the TikTok video says.
As students leave school, “they’re excited,” Hoeing said. “I hear, ‘oh, I can’t wait to see what the elf does tomorrow.’”
“I didn’t quite see it becoming this big,” Hoeing told Fox 59. “We’re a pretty small community here and we weren’t really sure how big this was going to get. Then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Another TikTok video shows the elf-costumed Hoeing sitting atop a fire truck, waving from the roof, and perched atop the school’s light-up sign.
The students have “absolutely loved” these outdoor spots, Hoeing said, “because then they got to kind of look and enjoy it a little bit longer than when I’m in the hallway.”
Greeting students from the light-up sign was Hoeing’s favorite day as an elf, she said.
“Community members were able to see it when they were driving by,” she told McClatchy News. “There was a lot of honking, and the kids were very excited. They would pull into our main entrance and the parents would pull over and the kids would roll the windows down and wave at me.”
For Hoeing, the shenanigans are “all for the kids,” she told WTHR. “As long as we’re doing something for the kids and the kids are enjoying it, that’s all that matters.”
“Being in an elementary school any day is magic,” Hoeing told McClatchy News. “But it’s especially magical during the holidays.” Activities like the elf shenanigans “just add to that magic and it gives (students) something to look forward to each and every school day.”
The elf activity started on Dec. 1 and ended Friday, Dec. 16, the school’s last day before Christmas break, Hoeing said.
The LumiStella Company, whose brands include The Elf on the Shelf, did notimmediately respond to McClatchy News’ Dec. 16 request for comment.
Shelbyville, where the school is located, is about 30 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Watch principal bring ‘elf on the shelf’ to life with some duct tape and creativity."
