WASHINGTON, DC — The tradition of the National Christmas Tree has been a holiday fixture for nearly a century and has strong ties to education. According to the National Park Service, District of Columbia Public Schools sent a letter to the White House in 1923 proposing that a decorated Christmas tree be placed on the South Lawn of the White House. President Calvin Coolidge lit the first national tree that year.
A tradition that’s not as widely known is that each state is represented around the tree. The sidewalk surrounding the National Christmas Tree is called the Pathway of Peace and it features smaller trees that represent the states, territories and the District of Columbia. For the first time this year, schools managed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education and the Department of Defense Education Activity also participated in the display.
Kandace Potter is the art teacher at Marion County High School in Lebanon, Kentucky which was selected to make the ornaments for the state’s tree. Potter said this is a big deal for their small town.
“There’s only one high school in our county,” Potter said adding that she is the only art teacher at the school.
She traveled with her family to Washington to see the tree her students decorated in person.
Potter said it’s great for her students to have “such an authentic, art making” experience especially after a year where they weren’t able to be in the classroom regularly due to the pandemic.
“Once they were given kind of the prompt and just the parameters of the project, there were some students who really just dove in,” Potter said.
The Kentucky class used a variety of mediums to create the ornaments including graphite, colored pencils, markers and paint. They drew inspiration from Kentucky traditions and used quilt patterns for the designs.
“I come from a family that quilts and always has,” Potter said. “I was able to bring in a blanket that my grandmother had quilted and kind of show them how you piece a quilt square together and then we looked at the different patterns you can use when you are quilting.”
Twenty-four students from her high school art classes participated in the project. She credits one of her students, Charleigh Browning, for helping the school get this opportunity.
“I also have a student who is on the advisory board for the Kentucky Department of Education and that’s kind of how this all came about,” Potter said. “To see her pride and ability to advocate for the high school and for the arts is amazing.”
The ornament program is a collaboration by the National Park Service, the US Department of Education and the National Park Foundation. This year there are 58 states included.
“I just am amazed at how much is involved at the local level to make something like this happen,” said Mark Guiod, National Park Service Volunteer. “They are very unique and represent the personality and distinction of all of those states.
The trees remain on display through Jan. 1.