Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

Avery Middle School Students Create Trees of the Future

Story by Jenna Crawley

It started with a comment and quickly developed into something much greater.

“As a matter of fact, I can’t remember who said it first any more,” said W.A.M.Y. Executive Director Angie Miller. “All of the sudden, the plans just started coming together and the next thing you know, we’ve received a letter saying our product was accepted.”

The product is a terra cotta pot decorated with the artwork of Avery County after-school students and filled with Fraser fir Christmas tree seeds, soil, vermiculite, growing instructions and a story about the idea behind the venture.

The acceptance letter arrived from Spruce Pine’s Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree store offering the product a space on the store’s shelves.

The collaboration behind the product includes W.A.M.Y. Community Action, Inc., Avery County Cooperative Extension and Avery County 4-H. Together, the organizations operate the Support Our Students and the 21st Century Community Learning Center After School Programs in Avery County.

The story actually begins with Dr. Gloria Houston’s 1988 children’s book, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree. Houston, who grew up just outside Spruce Pine in the Ingalls Community, donated the rights to her book to Spruce Pine during the 2003 Christmas season. The previous year had been an economically hard one for the town and county, with more than 2,500 textile, furniture and other jobs lost to outsourcing.

As a result of Houston’s gift, a store was born.

The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree store is located on Oak Avenue in downtown Spruce Pine. Inside are quality products directly based upon or inspired by the bookand handmade by 30 local individual small businesses.

During a meeting of W.A.M.Y. coordinators, someone mentioned the story and the store and suggested the group members put their heads together to think about creating a product for the store. The result was a kit including everything you need to grow a future perfect Christmas tree.

“It was an exciting idea that turned into quite an adventure,” said Support Our Students Coordinator Bobbie Willard.

Willard worked with her SOS students to create some of the artwork that decorates the pots. “They would look through the book and sketch the things that struck them in some way,” she said. “Then we took the originals and shrank it to a size appropriate to the pots, packed up the seeds and soil, and put it all in a nice, tidy package.”

Students involved in the original production of the artwork include Avery Middle School Students Kelsi Smith, Candace Arnett and Ember Musgrave. Cranberry Middle School after-school student Chuckie Patterson wrote My Perfect Tree on the first batch of terra cotta pots. Patterson, who wants to be an art teacher when he grows up, used a special terra cotta marker designed to withstand water and weather.

Cooperative Extension of Avery County donated the Fraser fir tree seeds.

Jenna Crawley, 21st Century Community Learning Center Coordinator, worked on the information and idea card packaged with the kit. “The purpose of the pot is threefold,” Crawley said. “We not only want to get the word out about the nonprofit collaboration, but we want to give the consumer something that, if cared for, will help future generations as well. Then, there is the idea that kids might get excited about reading and art on an entirely different level.”

Throughout the rest of the school year and into next fall, the partners hope to continue to involve after-school students in the artwork and production. “We really want to see this idea flourish as time goes on,” said Willard.

4-H Program After School Administrator Debra Buchanan Hughes agreed. “It is exciting to be a part of this great opportunity that connects the youth of today with the mountain heritage that makes up this wonderful region,” she said.

All proceeds from the sale of My Future Perfect Christmas Tree will be returned to the community. The finished product will be available by the beginning of the summer, will retail for $5.99 and can be purchased exclusively through The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree in Spruce Pine.

For more information about the store location and hours, call 828-765-0571 or click to www.homeoftheperfectchristmastree.org.

For more information about the after-school program in Avery County, call the Avery Cooperative Extension office at 828-733-8270.