Chris Volpe Photo
Emma Konicki shows off her ornament
Fourth-graders from New Haven’s Worthington Hooker School have designed ornaments for a Connecticut Christmas tree that will be part of the National Christmas Tree display in December, according to a New Haven Public Schools press release.
Printmaker Roxanne Faber-Savage, a teaching artist in the Arts Division of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development’s Offices of Culture and Tourism, selected Worthington Hooker School students to participate because the school is part of the state’s Higher Order of Thinking (HOT) Schools Program, which is sponsoring the tree.
New Haven Superintendent of Schools Dr. Reginald Mayo was quoted in the press release as saying: “These students’ ornaments will represent the entire state of Connecticut at the White House. This honor is a tribute to the district’s outstanding art teachers and art programs as well as the teachers and staff at Worthington Hooker.”
“Every year one-of-a-kind ornaments are made by ordinary Americans to hang on 56 trees — one for every U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia — that surround the National Christmas Tree,” according to the National Christmas Tree website.
The state trees are organized in a display called the Christmas Pathway of Peace and stand with the National Christmas Tree at the Ellipse in President’s Park, near the White House.
Worthington Hooker School fourth graders used the American Robin, Connecticut’s state bird, as the theme of their designs.
Judie Cavanaugh, an art teacher at Worthington Hooker School, was quoted in the district’s press release as saying the school’s participation “is giving our students the opportunity to showcase their creativity, which reflects our vales as a school and state.”
The National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, a program of the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, is scheduled for Thursday, December 1, at 4:30 p.m.