Caroline Upham Morgan Vandygriff Kalee Jo Vantine Natalie Venable Jonathan Vest Alexis Vitiello Katie Waldron Garret Walters Kendall Walters Matthew Waltman Catherine Wamack Skylar Watson Amber Webb Donisha Webb Seth Welborn Abby Whitaker Amber White Braxton White Jacob White Julie White Clayton Whitfield Jackson Whitfield Alex Whittington Austin Willhelm B RA N D 0 N & ~H AYDEN Twins freshmen Brandon and Hayden Rickett used their creative and artistic skills in an unusual way. During December of 20111 Brandon and Hayden decided to transform their home's game room into the Gryffindor common room from the Harry Potter series. The entire project took seven months. According to Brandon, the boys had grown up with Harry, and the books were important to them. "Along with wanting to exhibit our artistic sides in a new and creative way, our love of the Harry Potter series and the art behind the films inspired us to bring J.K. Rowling's world to life in a way that was incredibly personal to us," Brandon said. Hayden, an interior design major, said that though he and his brother were both artistic, this was the first time they had begun such a large-scale project. "Brandon and I have both loved art for our entire lives," Hayden said. "It runs in the family on both my mom and dad's sides, but this was the first project of its kind. It was an entirely different field of work than what either of us had done before so it was pretty exciting." The transformation began with basic remodeling, painting the walls in the room to look like stone bricks and the ceiling to look like planks of wood. The brothers then furnished and decorated the room to resemble the furniture and props used in the movies. They also added other Harry Potter elements, such as The Hog's Head pub, Honeydukes candy shop, and the Hogwarts staircase, each with their own realistic decorations and props. Brandon and Hayden's dad, Mark Rickett, initially worried that his sons would not finish the project, but in the end was very proud of his sons' hard work and their final product. "Both Hayden and Brandon have always been very creative," Mark said. "They are both very talented, and I hope that they will both find a way to use their talents to serve God by serving other people." Kim Rickett, Brandon and Hayden's mom, vowed to not enter the room until her sons finished the project and held an open house to celebrate its completion. Surprising people with the transformation was half of the fun for the twins. "I think it was so much fun watching people's reactions as they entered the room," Kim said. "Everyone reacted differently. It was also exciting to see the things Hayden and Brandon would bring home from thrift stores and watch them transform them in to Harry Potter artifacts." Lindsey Fink, a friend of Hayden and Brandon since the seventh grade, knew nothing about Harry Potter before the Rickett twins asked for her opinion on the project. Once they started the project, she saw how much time and effort they were putting into the project she knew that they were set on having their own "common room." Harry Potterfandom produced items from costumes to cookbooks, but the Rickett twins took their personal love for the series one step further by using their creativity to create a Harry Potter living space. Kristina Kiser
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