Stuffed polar bears and newspaper clippings were only a few items used to decorate Christmas Trees by West Virginia University's American Society of Interior Designers Tuesday.
The group paired with Friends of WVU Hospitals, an auxiliary board of the governing body of the hospital gift shop, to sponsor The Festival of Trees, a benefit designed to raise money for WVU Hospitals.
The benefit, which took place on Milan Puskar's Touchdown Terrace, involved the decorating of more than 20 Christmas trees, and 16 were purchased by donors such as Centra Bank, the Blaney House, and football coach Bill Stewart and his wife Karen.
The trees were purchased by donors who instructed the interior design students, along with volunteers from Coomb's Florist and Zaccagnini's Suncrest Florist, on how to decorate the tree.
Kegler's Sports Bar & Lounge requested a tall, skinny tree to be decorated with ornaments showing support for WVU athletics.
Some ornaments were shaped into a "U" and covered in newspaper clippings citing WVU victories, while blue ribbon hung from the top of the tree, and bright yellow ornament balls bearing the WVU logo adorned the rest of the tree. Blue and white lights finished off the tree.
Another tree, which was not purchased, donned green ribbon and $400 worth of stuffed polar bears with white lights.
Adrienne Davis, marketing director of Centra Bank and member of Friends of WVU Hospitals, said this was the first time the project had been done at WVU.
Davis said Barbara Lingler, a professor in the interior design program, suggested to bring in the students to help work on the trees.
"All of the decorations, all of the trees, are from the gift shop, and all of the money raised goes back to WVU Hospitals," Davis said.
She projected $8,000 to be donated to WVU Hospitals.
The average cost of a tree and all the decorations is around $1,000, Davis said, adding Friends of WVU originally planned for 10 trees for the project's first year, but were pleasantly surprised when the number doubled.
Kori Korczyk, a senior interior design major and president of the American Society of Interior Designers, got involved with the project to give back to the community.
"A big thing was that we wanted to get out in the community and get our name out there and basically give back to Morgantown," she said. "It's been our home for almost four years now, and I think this is a great way to start that process."
Alex Gockel, a freshman interior design major, said creativity was her favorite part of the project.
"The whole idea of decorating Christmas trees for others is great," she said. "It's a fun way for us, as design students, to interact and have fun with our creativity."
For Shayla Benzo, a freshman interior design major, this was her first "real" project with ASID.
"I was excited to participate and put my creativity into something so productive," she said. "This is such a good cause and I can't wait to see the end result."
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