By Tabatha Davis
The snow is falling on a chilly winter night. You walk up to the open Indian Trail doors—your breath clouds around you and lights twinkle about. You walk in and the smell of gingerbread fills the air. Elves run about wrapping gifts for children, and in the mist, you see Mrs. Droessler running the whole show.
Droessler is very hopeful and excited for the children to see Santa’s Workshop without the limitations of COVID-19. “When we were in Covid and then two years ago, we were still all masked and kind of smaller numbers. So last year was our first sort of back-to-normal event and we had a good turnout…I think it’ll be fun for them to see what they like about it and how they want to morph it for future years.”
Droessler also has new editions to the workshop to make it more fun and give other clubs and activities a place to show what they do. “I think the change this year that could be new and fun is that we’re getting the Communications Academy production group involved and helping with the pictures and possibly doing some on-site T-shirt making. So adding a few new components with that. But it’s also a pretty young student council group this year that’s involved.”
Student council and Mrs. Droessler have been working hard together to make this a fun experience for both the children and adults. “The student council just helps get kids from the community into our building to know what our building’s about and to sort of have a positive impression of Indian trail. And it’s a really fun way to give back to the community that the kids really enjoy. Both the big kids and the kids and their families really enjoy it. We got a lot of good feedback on it.” Droessler oversees the students working on it and helps coordinate all the ordering of things and figure out how to organize things. There are 80 active student council members however only 15 to 20 people are helping with Santa’s Workshop. On the day of the event, it’s estimated to have 60 to 80 volunteers. “They’re off to a pretty solid start. They’re all doing a good job.” Droessler gleamed about the student’s work so far on Santa’s Workshop. As well as being excited for the years to come and the Santa’s Workshops in the coming years.