Newton Citizen

Fellow fifth-grader Allie Hay also lent a hand at the tree decorating last week. This is the seventh year that students have helped decorate the tree with ornaments made by fellow students.

COVINGTON -- It looks a lot more like Christmas at the Newton County Board of Education now, thanks to help from some students.

Continuing a tradition established at the Newton County School System seven years ago, a handful of students from the Newton County Theme School at Ficquett visited the school board offices next door last week to decorate the Christmas tree that sits in the lobby.

Students decorated the tree with nearly 200 ornaments, all made by fellow students from each of the county's elementary schools.

"The students are obviously very creative, as we have a wide variety of ornaments made out of everything from paper, wood, glue, clay and wire to beads, light bulbs and dog biscuits," said Sherri Davis-Viniard, director of Public Relations at NCSS. "The tree is a must-see."

This year, Newton High School Assistant Principal Tracey Curtis helped decorate the tree, too -- lending a hand to decorate the top part of the tree that many of the students, who were in third through fifth grades, couldn't reach.

"The kids just loved that," Viniard said. "As usual, they did a wonderful job and had a lot of fun."

The tree will remain up through the holiday season.

"Our students are our primary focus, so our tree should be representative of them, and what better way to do that than have them make the ornaments and decorate it," Viniard said. "It's a great way to showcase their work, too. The tree has only been up a few days and we've already received many compliments on the decorations."