Fifty-six schools will create ornaments to accompany the National Christmas Tree in Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON– Fifty-six schools across the country are creating one-of-a-kind ornaments for the 2018 National Christmas Tree experience on the Ellipse in President’s Park in Washington, D.C. These handcrafted ornaments will adorn 56 smaller trees that surround the National Christmas Tree. The 56 trees represent each U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia as part of the America Celebrates display.
The America Celebrates display is one of the highlights of the National Christmas Tree experience, which will begin on November 28 with the 96th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Each school will create ornaments that celebrate its state, district or territory. Learn about last year’s artists and ornaments.
Through a partnership with the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Education worked with state art and education agencies to identify middle and high schools whose students would create the ornaments. The project is funded by the National Park Foundation.
"It's an excitement and privilege; patriotism at its best,” Gavin Kumar, a ninth-grade student at Leonardtown High School in Leonardtown, Maryland said. “I'm excited that my artwork is going to be on display for thousands of people to see."
“We are very honored for our class to have such a great opportunity to represent the state of Michigan at the National Christmas Tree display," Aniyah Moore, a 12th-grade student at Carman-Ainsworth High School in Flint, Michigan said. "It will be fun to create the ornaments, and to show our creativity for our state.”
"I'm honored our small school has the opportunity to represent the beautiful Big Sky State, through art, at a national level,” Elizabeth Donahue, a ninth-grade student at Roundup Junior/Senior High School in Roundup, Montana said.
Fifty-six schools to create ornaments for 2018 National Christmas Tree display in President’s Park:
Alabama
Hewitt-Trussville Middle School
Alaska
Tanana Middle School
American Samoa
Fagaitua High School
Arizona
Isaac Middle School
Arkansas
Ardis Ann Middle School
California
Gabrielino High School
Colorado
Chappelow K-8 Arts Magnet School
Connecticut
Carmen Arace Intermediate School
Delaware
Dover Air Force Base Middle School
District of Columbia
SEED Public Charter School
Florida
Lecanto High School
Georgia
Riverwood High School
Guam
Agueda I. Johnston Middle School
Hawaii
Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School
Idaho
Central Academy
Illinois
Dwight Township High School
Indiana
Our Lady of Grace Catholic School
Iowa
Starmont Middle School
Kansas
Colby Middle School
Kentucky
Kentucky School for the Deaf and Kentucky School for the Blind
Louisiana
Wossman High School
Maine
Lawrence High School
Maryland
Leonardtown High School
Massachusetts
St Charles School
Michigan
Carman-Ainsworth High School
Minnesota
MACCRAY High School
Mississippi
Forest Hill High School
Missouri
Hazelwood West Middle School
Montana
Roundup Jr.-Sr. High School
Nebraska
St. Mary's School Bellevue
Nevada
Gerlach K-12
New Hampshire
Contoocook Valley Regional High School
New Jersey
Ocean City High School
New Mexico
El Dorado Community School
New York
Dryden Senior High School
North Carolina
Needham B. Broughton High School
North Dakota
Beulah High School
Northern Mariana Islands
Saipan Southern High School
Ohio
Milford Junior High School
Oklahoma
Middle School of Piedmont
Oregon
Howard St. Charter School
Pennsylvania
Middletown Area Middle School
Puerto Rico
Escuela Especializada de Bellas Artes Ernesto Ramos Antonini
Rhode Island
Paul W. Crowley East Bay Met School
South Carolina
John W. Moore Intermediate School
South Dakota
Roosevelt High School
Tennessee
Fairview Middle School
Texas
Knippa School, Knippa ISD
Utah
Evergreen Junior High School
Vermont
Randolph Elementary and Middle School
US Virgin Islands
St. Croix Educational Complex
Virginia
Governor's School for the Arts
Washington
Graham-Kapowsin High School
West Virginia
Washington High School
Wisconsin
Wyoming
DeLong Middle School
Lingle-Fort Laramie High School
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 fir donated by Middlebury College in Vermont.
Today’s National Christmas Tree is a living Colorado blue spruce from Virginia, which can be viewed year-round in President’s Park. This year’s National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will kick off the holiday season with live musical performances, special guests and the official lighting of the National Christmas Tree. The festivities continue with a daily lighting of the National Christmas Tree, free evening musical performances and a chance to see the 56 state, district and territory trees and their ornaments up close from December 1, 2018 through January 1, 2019.
For more event information and updates, please visit www.thenationaltree.org and follow the National Christmas Tree on Twitter at @TheNationalTree. Join the conversation online using the hashtag #NCTL2018.
-NPS-
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. The National Park Service has cared for the White House and its grounds since 1933. President’s Park, which includes the Ellipse and Lafayette Park, was officially included in the national park system in 1961. Visit us at: www.nps.gov, on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter: www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube: www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
About the U.S. Department of Education: The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help states establish effective school systems. In 1980, Congress established the U.S. Department of Education as a Cabinet-level agency. While the agency’s name and location within the Executive Branch have changed over the past 150 years, this early emphasis on getting information on what works in education to teachers and education policymakers continues to the present day. Today, the Department operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. Its elementary and secondary programs annually serve over 18,000 school districts and more than 55 million students attending nearly 100,000 public schools and approximately 35,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to about 16 million postsecondary students.
About the National Park Foundation: Celebrating 50 years, the National Park Foundation is the official charity of America’s national parks and nonprofit partner to the National Park Service. Chartered by Congress in 1967, the National Park Foundation raises private funds to help PROTECT more than 84 million acres of national parks through critical conservation and preservation efforts, CONNECT all Americans with their incomparable natural landscapes, vibrant culture and rich history, and INSPIRE the next generation of park stewards. In 2016, commemorating the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, the Foundation launched The Centennial Campaign for America’s National Parks, a comprehensive fundraising campaign to strengthen and enhance the future of these national treasures for the next hundred years. Find out more and become a part of the national park community at www.nationalparks.org.
=================================
4 Ways CEOs Can Overcome Mistrust
And Make Marketing Their New Best Friend
Eighty percent of CEOs responding to a global survey admitted that they don’t trust their marketing departments, saying they believe marketing team members don’t have business credibility and are too disconnected from the financial realities of their companies.
But Denise Kohnke, who has worked 25 years in marketing and directed brand development for more than 100 organizations, thinks the opposite is true. She says it is CEOs who are too disconnected from their marketing departments and don’t understand how they can help grow companies.
“The truth that CEOs must embrace is that marketing is their best friend,” says Kohnke, founder and CEO of the marketing firm House United LLC (thehouseu.com) and author of All of the Other Marketing Books Are Crap (www.smartcrap.com). “If you’re a CEO, stop doing it yourself and buy your marketing department some beers, then get out of the way.
“The relationship a CEO has to marketing should be stronger than any other departmental relationship, because it’s marketing that does the heavy lifting of pulling an organization forward.”
Kohnke offers four tips to help CEOs communicate better with their marketing team and give it the kind of support it needs:
“When done well,” Kohnke says, “marketing will make a CEO look great – like a 40-year-old Richard Gere walking into a boardroom with a $20,000 custom suit and a briefcase full of million-dollar ideas. It’s all presentation and framing conversations to boards, customers, non-customers and employees.”
About Denise Kohnke
Denise Kohnke, author of All of the Other Marketing Books Are Crap (www.smartcrap.com), is founder and CEO of the marketing firm House United LLC. (thehouseu.com) Her book is packed with astute advice delivered with edgy, sharp-witted humor. Kohnke has directed brand development for more than 100 organizations in her 25-plus years in advertising and marketing. She was the strategist behind the 2012 Effie award-winning campaign "No One Deserves To Die" for Lung Cancer Alliance.
=============================
Pros & iCons
Premieres New Video
"Catch Me"
Watch Now via Alternative Press:
Latest Album iConic Out Now
Recently featured on New Noise Magazine
New York, NY - October 29, 2018 - New York pop rock act Pros & iCons has released a brand new music video for "Catch Me" from the band's latest record iConic. Fans can check out the video now via Alternative Press: http://bit.ly/2OchjuP. iConic was released on June 1, 2017. Stay up-to-date on the latest news from Pros & iCons at www.prosandiconsmusic.com.
On the new video, the band shared: "'Catch Me' is our anthemic battle cry to those outcasted for having alternative dreams. We believe there's something more to life, which is why we speak to those that stand on its fringes. Our goal is expressed in the first line: 'Tonight we call out to the broken. Tonight we take back what was stolen.' Our juvenile years were spent clinging to words of our favorite artists in desperate attempt to feel like we belonged to something. And so, we wrote the punchline of the song-'You can catch me if you can'-as a middle finger to those who don't believe in coloring outside of the lines. The video itself captures a narrative of musical progression, expressing where we were, where we are, and where we are going. As we evolve visually and figuratively throughout the video, we're nearly saying, 'We're going to make it. You can catch us if you can.'"
Much like an anti-hero breaks rules in honor of heroism, Pros & iCons' "anti-pop" approach to their mainstream sound breaks expectations of the "now." Pros & iCons filters their interpretation of life and presents it through nostalgic, emotive, and inspirational arena rock anthems. The band evokes an energy and power known to 1980s rock 'n' roll that has greatly inspired their journey.
Pros & iCons released their debut full-length album iConic in 2017, and have since worked tirelessly to build up a devoted following. Earlier this year they took the stage at select dates of the final Vans Warped Tour, alongside bands like Chase Atlantic, YUNGBLUD, Simple Plan, Waterparks, and more.
Pros & iCons is Joey Dean (vocals), Niko Vaude (guitar), Lenny J. (guitar), and Tylø (bass).
For more information, please visit:
Website: www.prosandiconsmusic.com
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2Knj37E
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2KAieY5
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2KAQu5K
Youtube: http://bit.ly/2KoAxR3
Spotify: http://bit.ly/ICONICALBUM
###
