Kellogg gets its holiday 'swag' on
Photo courtesy of SCOTT ALBRETHSEN Students of the Kellogg Middle School After School Program hold up some of the many swags they created. Back row from left: Shaye Sullivan, Jordan Kemp, Tristan Baker, MarieFaith Sverdsten, Eowyn Spencer, Devin Webber, Damien Reed, Clark Mathis, Stephen Paul, Gabriel Johnson and director Scott Albrethsen. Front row: Mimi Klein, Sierra Keele and Olivia Domonoske.
KELLOGG — Thanks to the efforts of the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Kellogg Middle School After School Program, the city of Kellogg will be sporting some handmade decorations this holiday season.
Initially conceived by the Chamber’s Christmas Lighting Festival committee, the group got the idea to give the Silver Valley’s biggest city a little extra pizzazz before the event on Nov. 30.
Instead of standard circle wreaths, it was decided that they would make 100 Christmas “swags,” which essentially are various tree branches that are strung together in a decorative fashion with ornamentation and hung up.
Once the decision had been made to make swags, the committee then needed a way to make it. Fortunately for them, Chamber director and KMS After School Program director Scott Albrethsen had the solution.
“This sort of came up as a possible chamber event,” Albrethsen explained. “The committee was sort of stewing over how we were going to make it happen. The after school program tries to do as many community service projects that it can, so this seemed like a pretty good fit to get the kids involved.”
On Wednesday, Albrethsen, a few parents and more than 20 after school students got to work at KMS and busted out all 100 swags in roughly three hours.
The finished swags will be delivered to the city of Kellogg on Friday and are planned to be hung on business fronts and light poles next week.
While the swag will be a great way to get people into the holiday spirit before the lighting ceremony, Albrethsen is also happy that the after school program could be involved.
“It’s just kind of a cool way to get the school community to collaborate with the Chamber and the City on a holiday project.”
The KMS After School Program includes three different sections for students to be involved in. There’s a daily program that does stand-alone activities, there’s clubs that focus on a specific activities that will occur for a period of time and then there’s a study hall portion to help students with their school work. Albrethsen runs the program with the help of program coordinator, Mimi Klein.
For the latest information on the Silver Valley Christmas Lighting Festival, visit their Facebook page.