As if the new “Star Wars” movie wasn’t getting enough hype already, senior Kyle Shearrer’s Christmas decorating inspired by the franchise went viral after he posted photos on his Facebook page of how he brought the holiday atmosphere from a galaxy far, far away into his living room. Shearrer and his dad, Phil, set up and took the photos, depicting small stormtrooper figurines completely spontaneously. They noticed the stormtroopers near the other decorations as they were setting up the tree, and as Phil Shearrer put it, one thing led to another.
“I would start something and [Kyle] would add to it and then he’d have an idea and we’d run with that,” Phil Shearrer said. “Shock (the guy with the fork) and Luke taking a smoke break, Vader and the Imperial Guard were all Kyle’s ideas.”
In less than two days, the photos got more than 140,000 shares on Facebook and national recognition from publications like The Huffington Post and ABC. The attention stunned the Shearrers, who were expecting to get 100 likes from friends at the most. The best part of the whole thing was that it did exactly what Christmas spirit is supposed to do: make people happy.
“My favorite part was the reactions from everyone as well as making every picture have a story in it,” Kyle Shearrer said. “We’ve seen no negativity whatsoever, and it just seems like it brightened everyone’s day.”
Junior Gretchen Cone was delighted to see Kyle Shearrer receive the recognition that he got. She preordered her new Star Wars movie tickets the day after they came out for opening night and has been a fan of the franchise ever since her dad introduced her to it.
Similar to Cone, Phil Shearrer got his two daughters hooked on the series. He explained how they used to go to Target and stand in line to buy the new toys at midnight after they were released and soon included Kyle in the tradition, too. Every so often, they still break out the stormtroopers and have Nerf gun battles.
The Shearrers are looking forward to the next movie and have their tickets for the 17th. The recent explosion of positivity from friends as well as total strangers around the world only added to their excitement for the upcoming film.
“Kyle’s a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff,” Cone said. “I’m really proud of him and happy that he gets to show it all off.”