By Nick Stern, Senior Reporter | Photos by Jonathan Baca
Alma Vega, Architect Engineering major, enjoyed the spoils of victory in the fourth annual Dia de Los Muertos mask competition, winning a gift certificate to a local restaurant of her choice and bragging rights in her class, Jim Johnson, psychology instructor said.
The competition was part of Johnson’s Psychology of Death and Dying class, in which students are required to give presentations on a variety of topics, including Dia de Los Muertos, he said.
Masks were expected to incorporate creativity, ingenuity, design, and effort, and some students used gauze or plaster of Paris on their own faces, while others used decorated masks made of paper or purchased templates, he said.
Johnson’s class covers all the aspects of death in American culture including the history of the funeral industry, hospice, suicide, homicide, genocide, grief and bereavement, as well as much more, Johnson said.
Students were made aware of the project near the beginning of the semester, so they had nearly 10 weeks to complete their masks, he said.
Below are a some of the winners and Chronicle favorites from the fourth annual Dia de Los Muertos Mask competition.
