By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
A new tradition is making its way to Emery High School as it prepares to host its first-ever ‘Festival of Trees’ beginning Monday, Dec. 8, and running until Friday, Dec. 12.
“We decided as a student council that we wanted to change when the Winter Formal is held. It’s usually held in January, but is often too close to prom. As we decided to move it to December, we noticed that we had a week that had events every single night,” said Student Council Advisor Tisha Thornley. “The Festival of Trees idea had been something we had discussed earlier in the year, and it just made sense to start the tradition this year to help get in the holiday spirit. As a student council, we love having all groups, clubs, sports, and students involved in our activities in the school, and this was a great way to involve everyone.”
In its current form, the event will feature displays from student organizations and local businesses in the halls surrounding the Spartan Center. This year, trees will be returned to the entity that entered them, but future plans for the program could include an auction of the trees at its conclusion.
Looking at this potential, Thornley remarked,” The possibility of an auction in the future years to help with money donations to a charity is our end goal. But ultimately, getting the community and students together to celebrate our school and all that it has to offer is the biggest thing. A lot of the trees are being designed and built by students, which makes it all the more exciting.”
Running all week, the event gives the public opportunities to view the trees after high school events each night. This includes opportunities:
- Monday- Choir Concert- Viewing of the trees following the concert
- Tuesday- Wrestling vs Manti
- Wednesday- Boys Basketball vs San Juan
- Thursday- Girls Basketball vs Juab
- Friday- Boys Basketball vs South Summit, Home Swim Meet
“There is a home activity every night next week, and the trees will be available for viewing each night. What better way to start the holiday season than watching a wrestling match, basketball game, swim meet or listening to a choir concert and then going and looking at the amazing trees decorated by our school and community,” added the advisor.
For those interested in entering a tree into the event, EHS is accepting entries until Friday, Dec. 5. To enter, fill out the following form.
