The staff, faculty, and students at the Brighton campus of Ross Medical Education Center are getting into the Holiday Spirit! For the last several years, the campus community has kicked off the holiday season by providing a decorated tree for Holiday in the Park, an annual event hosted by the Howell Parks and Recreation Department. This year, in order to accommodate more families and fun activities, the event was moved to the Recreation Center and renamed Rec the Halls.
The Howell Parks and Recreation Department says taking part in the decorating of a tree is a great way to support community recreation, advertise your business, or extend holiday wishes to your friends and neighbors. They kicked off Rec the Halls with a community event on December 6th. In the midst of the decorated trees there were many events for children and families. Some of them included a giant mailbox in which 170 letters were put to begin their trek to Santa in the North Pole, a huge igloo that kids could play in, face painting, pictures with Santa, and free hot chocolate. With over 500 people in attendance for the opening ceremonies, this year’s event was a great success. Throughout the rest of the month of December, families are invited to visit the center to see the lights and decorated trees.
This year, the Ross campus was one of 50 area businesses, organizations, and individuals in the community that decorated a Christmas tree using very creative ornaments using Ross name badges. Also, this time around, the Pharmacy Technician program had the great privilege of decorating the tree. Pharmacy Technician instructor, Liz Stewart, said “students not only enjoyed volunteering their time to make ornaments and to decorate the tree, but they were also able to enjoy beautiful weather while helping the Howell City Parks and Recreation Department with their Deck the Halls celebration.” It was a beautiful afternoon! Stewart also got to enjoy the weather and work together with students Tristan Beal, Alissa Reed-Wallace, Kayla Leach and Courtney Beal to make this year’s tree the best yet! Beth Schrader, Assistant Director of Howell Parks and Recreation Department, says that the center hopes to make next year’s event even bigger and to have 75 trees sponsored!