Rochester Students' Creations Will Adorn People's Tree in D.C.

Rochester students and community members have worked for over a month creating holiday ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Project. These 9-12 inch ornaments will decorate the "People's Tree" outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Since 4,000 ornaments are needed for this tree, Gail Kilkelly at the Vermont Dept. of Education had the idea of asking art teachers all over the state to provide these.

Rochester was able to participate, due to the donation of wooden bowls from the Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association, and was one of only three schools chosen as recipients. There were also donations of paint from the Ben Franklin Store in Randolph, the Hardware Store of Rochester, and from Mona Colton of Pittsfield. The Staples store from Rutland donated a spray to weatherproof the bowls.

Rochester students in K-12, as well as staff, teachers, and community members, painted winter holiday scenes, mugs of hot chocolate, wreaths, horse-drawn sleighs, snow people, holly, poinsettia, stars and more.

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