By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Two teachers from Salina USD 305 Public Schools, Caleb and Lacie Stewart, skipped this year's traditional Thanksgiving celebration.
While friends and family cooked turkey and stuffing, the Stewarts hung Christmas lights and decorations in the Oval Office and other important White House rooms.
Dozens of volunteers visited the White House to decorate, with Stewarts' group including 15 members to decorate the Oval Office, the Vice President's Office, the Cabinet Room and the Roosevelt Room.
As fellow volunteers milled about the White House, Caleb Stewart said he noticed the camaraderie while decorating.
"We were just there to all work together to decorate the people's house for Christmas," Caleb Stewart said. "The big thing I'm taking away is that it is still possible for everyone to get along and work together toward a common goal."
Decorating the White House
The Stewarts tune in to the "HGTV White House Christmas Special" each year to watch the process of decorating the White House. This year, they decided to get involved and turned in a volunteer application in September.
The pair nervously waited for a response, and in October, HGTV and White House staff told the couple to show up on Thanksgiving week.
On Wednesday, Nov. 22, the Stewarts arrived, celebrated Thanksgiving Day in Washington, D.C., and began decorating with dozens of other volunteers.
"We started our decorating shift on Friday," Caleb Stewart said. "We decorated all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and that was 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. all those days."
The Stewarts strung twinkling lights and decorated Christmas trees throughout their assigned rooms.
While working, Lacie Stewart said she thought of the history of the iconic building and how she had taught her third-grade class at Schilling Elementary about it just a few weeks before.
She teaches about government and American History through a reading unit that took the students on a virtual White House and Washington, D.C. tour.
"My kids were really excited to research that and know those places, and then a month later, I was like, 'Hey guys, remember that White House picture we showed you? We're actually going in there, and I'm going to tell you all about it,'" Lacie Stewart said. "It was really cool to make that connection."
Teachers for the community
Lacie and Caleb Stewart began teaching eight years ago in Salina, with Caleb starting his career at South Middle School and then moving on to teach high school English at Salina South for the past three years.
Lacie Stewart began teaching at Schilling Elementary eight years ago and continues to teach third grade there.
After returning from Washington, the couple told their students of the experience, from decorating in the Roosevelt Room to shaking hands with first lady and fellow educator Jill Biden.
"The day we got back, we actually put together a little slideshow presentation of some pictures," Caleb Stewart said.
The White House also provided volunteers with a children's book-style booklet that explained the decorations of each room, so the Stewarts shared that with students.
Lacie Stewart said her students excitedly absorbed the information, letting friends and family know about their teacher's accomplishment.
"They had lots of questions," Lacie Stewart said. "After the initial kind of enjoyment, they really kind of thought about it like 'Wow, my teacher did do this!'"
"They were telling other students or parents, and I had a lot of parents after school ask me, 'Is it true that you really went to the White House?' and I was like, 'Your students aren't lying to you, it's true — I really did.'"