This ornament designed by Merino's Boone Smith was selected to appear on the National Christmas Tree display website as Colorado's ornament. Merino School was chosen to design ornaments to go on Colorado's tree in this year's display.
(Courtesy photo)

Students at Merino School are receiving national recognition for their artwork. The school is one of 58 across the nation and abroad that has designed one-of-a-kind ornaments for the 2021 National Christmas Tree display on the Ellipse in Washington D.C.'s President's Park.

The ornaments will adorn 58 smaller trees surrounding the National Christmas Tree. The trees represent each U.S. State, territory and the District of Columbia as part of the America Celebrates ornament display. Schools managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Education and the Department of Defense Education Activity will also participate in the display for the first time this year.

From state flowers to notable landmarks, students created ornaments that celebrate the places they call home.

A description of Merino's ornaments on the National Christmas Tree website notes that the school is the heart of the town and because of its rural locale and passion for the outdoors, students at the school are uniquely suited to showcase colorful Colorado.

"From mountains to meadows, mining to mesas, bison to butterflies and everything in between. See, in the ornaments, our geography, our wildlife, our outdoor sports, even part of our Native American heritage. Colorado is truly beautiful and Merino students know it and show it," reads the ornament description.

Merino art teacher Carrie Mann is on the board of the Colorado Art Education Association, representing multi-level teachers who teach both elementary and secondary. Through that association, she works with other art educators around the state. When the Colorado Department of Education received notice that a school needed to be nominated, they wanted to focus on a rural school and Merino was their first choice.

"I think that is because of my work with the CAEA and receiving awards in the past. Either way, I was honored to be chosen to create these ornaments," Mann said.

She had fourth, fifth and sixth-grade students create an ornament design and also had some high school students volunteer to create designs. Of those designs, 24 were chosen. Each will be made into a six-inch disc with the design on both sides. Once they are made, the ornaments become the property of the National Parks Service.

Students who made ornaments include: Emmee Samber, Amanda Thorpe, Brooklyn Howell, Boone Smith, Lane Spielman, Malachi Hackbarth, Jasper Boyce, Annabelle Hubert, Kacey Erickson, Lauren Lorenzo, Analeigh Hackbarth, Taryn Foos, Seriah Leuth, Mikena Daughenbaugh, Kaelyn Doyle, Alyssa Buckler, Johnathon Powell, Delaney Piel, Jackson Pope, Peyton Herbolt, Kashlyn Gordanier, Zoey Annis, Jack Kautz and Bailey Gonzalas.

Boone Smith's ornament was chosen to appear on the National Christmas Tree website as Colorado's ornament.

The America Celebrates ornament program is an annual collaboration of the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Department of Education and the National Park Foundation (NPF). The U.S. Department of Education worked with states and territories to identify elementary, middle and high schools to participate in the America Celebrates program. The project is funded by the NPF.

The America Celebrates display is one of the highlights of the National Christmas Tree experience. In partnership with NPF, CBS will broadcast the 2021 ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 8:30-9:30 PM, ET/8-9 PM, PT on the CBS Television Network.

Visitors can view the National Christmas Tree and the 58 state, district and territory trees and their ornaments up close daily from Dec. 4 through Jan. 1, 2022.

The National Christmas Tree Lighting has strong ties to education. In 1923, a letter arrived at the White House from the District of Columbia Public Schools proposing that a decorated Christmas tree be placed on the South Lawn of the White House. On Christmas Eve that year, President Calvin Coolidge walked from the Oval Office to the Ellipse and pushed a button that lit the first National Christmas Tree. It was a 48-foot balsam fir donated by Middlebury College in Vermont.

Since 1973, the National Christmas Tree has been a living tree which can be viewed year-round in President's Park – one of America's 423 national parks! Ahead of the holiday season, the NPS planted a new National Christmas Tree. The new tree is a 27-foot white fir (Abies Concolor) from Middleburg, Pa. The new National Christmas Tree will be lit for the first time on Dec. 2 during the 99th National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony.

For more information and updates, visit www.nationaltree.org and follow President's Park on Facebook and Twitter.