BELLE HARBOR — New York State is represented on a Christmas tree at the White House thanks to sixth graders from St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy.
Every state has a Christmas tree at the White House in addition to the official National Christmas tree, and this year, the youngsters from St. Francis de Sales were chosen to contribute the ornaments to New York’s.
The theme was “What Makes My State Beautiful.”
The students’ drawings included St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Coney Island Cyclone.
In a nod to President Donald Trump, one student, Cassie Corvi, drew Trump Tower.
“I’m actually going to Trump Tower for Christmas,” she said.
The students weren’t limited to New York City. Enzo Pincay’s ornament, for example, features the Montauk Lighthouse on Long Island.
“I think this is very unique, because it is something that shows how nature and technology could be together,” he said, explaining his lighthouse.
Of the more than 50 ornaments that were submitted for consideration by sixth graders from St. Francis de Sales, 24 were selected to be placed on the New York State tree in Washington, D.C., Cassie’s and Enzo’s among them.
“I was flabbergasted when I found out,” Cassie said.
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Nancy Re, the English-Language Arts teacher for the fifth and sixth grades, spearheaded the ornament creativity.
She learned back in August that St. Francis de Sales would be part of the White House Christmas tree event, receiving an email with a subject line that read “FLOTUS Needs You.” Melania Trump was in charge of the decorating.
However, Re faced a tight deadline. Because the White House plans its Christmas decorations months in advance, the submissions were due in September. That meant the children had to get busy as soon as school opened in September.
“As soon as school started, I said, ‘Hi, I’m Ms. Re. I’m your teacher. Merry Christmas! We’re making tree ornaments,’ ” she recalled.
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She and other teachers put together a list of landmarks and assigned a number to each. Then they had the students pick a number out of a hat to determine which landmark they would draw.
It wasn’t all fun and games, according to Re, who said the students had to write descriptions of the landmarks they drew and why they are significant.
“They had to research it themselves. They had to write about it, and they had to draw it,” she said, calling it “a great civics lesson.”