The shelves lining the walls of the media center at Anderson Intermediate School are packed with hundreds of Santa Claus statuettes.
The holiday icons have become a Christmas decorating tradition for the school’s custodian, Don Shanks. The longtime employee of Anderson Community Schools has built a devoted following among staff members who anticipate his annual showcase of yuletide displays, including more full-sized Christmas trees and Peanuts-themed displays throughout the building.
Teachers and administrators are quick to note that, in addition to spreading Christmas cheer, the decorations drive discussions and help them adapt lesson plans in academic areas like math and history to make the holiday season a time for continued learning.
“When (Shanks) does the decorating around the school, it shows a universal kind of relationship,” said Schneida Burgess, who directs the school’s media center. “It’s not just him as a custodian, it’s him being an educator in all areas.”
Shanks, in his 47th year as a custodian, is the longest tenured building caretaker in the district. Having formerly worked at the Paramount Theatre, he brought an affinity for decorating trees with him when he began working for ACS.
He started with a small project — what he called a “wishing tree” — at the former North Anderson Elementary School in 1997. Eight years later, he brought the concept of the Paramount’s popular Festival of Trees to Eastside Elementary, where students participated in decorating contests and other activities.
The tradition has grown in scale over the years to a point where, this year, Shanks and his son, Zane, outfitted the intermediate school with 25 trees, each holding dozens of ornaments and lights, as well as other themed displays throughout the building.
Then, there are the Santas.
Likenesses of Kris Kringle are bunched together in displays on each of the building’s two floors, including a collection of eight that greets visitors to the school’s library. Inside, Burgess pointed out that among the Santas on display is one representing the Coca Cola bottling company, which started using his red suit and portly appearance in its advertising in the 1930s.
“All these (Santas) are of different cultures,” she said. “They’re set with different timelines. There’s a history behind all of them. This (library) is really a perfect place for them, because this is a place of information. We’re giving them a foundation of where … our American history is based. I don’t want that to ever leave.”
The decorations, Shanks believes, are an ideal way to channel the children’s natural curiosity into creative learning experiences.
“If you really look around here, it’s all about imagination,” he said. “I try to put a little bit of history with (the displays). … If the kids get it, fine; if not, that’s OK, too. We want the kids to use their imagination.”
On Thursday, as classes of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders roamed the halls searching for items among the displays that would help them check off holiday-themed scavenger hunt lists, administrators said the activities help support learning in several areas, including math — such as estimating the number of Santas in a group — and other, more creative disciplines.
“In each classroom they develop activities and things that they need to do within the school in order to meet those expectations,” said AIS Principal Courtlon Peters.
“Christmas is a very big part of our history, of American history, and having someone like Mr. Shanks here who is very familiar with our corporation and with the staff and the students and their parents and grandparents, it is really a blessing to have that.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.