Vista Grande student art decorates White House tree

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho School Board gathered Dec. 9 for their regular meeting, but they had an irregular announcement to make: a local student’s artwork will be displayed at the White House.

Breaking with the usual processes and the strict agenda, the board took a moment during their introduction to speak with and hear from Vista Grande Elementary (VGE) student Maximo Risso and VGE principal Christine Prescott.

This year, the VGE students participated in a Christmas tree decoration competition. The winner would have their ornament hung on a tree on the South Lawn of the White House in celebration of the holidays.

The competition is part of a national display at the White House. The main Christmas tree is surrounded by 50 state-specific Christmas trees. In total, VGE students created 24 different ornaments to hang on the New Mexico tree. Those ornaments are currently dangling from their wintery branches just outside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. (the White House).

Risso’s creation was selected as the winning ornament from the New Mexico tree and is now displayed on thenationaltree.org as the representative decoration for all of New Mexico.

“It took me four shades of brown alone to get the dirt done,” Risso told the board. “[It took], like, six shades of green just to get the yucca plant on. And this is an amazing experience for me.”

Prescott added that Risso is a talented musician and the school is often fortunate to get to enjoy his art. Lastly, Prescott added that this was all possible because of the amazing art department at Vista Grande.

“I want to add that our fine art department and teachers, we are so lucky to have them,” said Prescott. “We are so grateful to be able to have such wonderful opportunities for our students.”