Page 16 - 120417

Groton Daily Independent
Monday, Dec. 04, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 148 ~ 16 of 43
“I used to tell my parents, ‘Someday I’m going to do that,’” Jansen said.
Selected in mid-October, Jansen applied in early fall, submitting an essay explaining why he wanted to be a volunteer. And now in his job as a tax accountant at Deloitte company in Minneapolis, Minn., he nally decided to give it a go.
The 2011 graduate from Bridgewater-Emery High School has always been surrounded by avid decorators as both his mother and grandmother love the holiday season. Their passion rubbed off on Jansen, and he began to help as soon as he could.
Home for Thanksgiving this year, Jansen helped with the remaining holiday decorating chores with his mother, Lori. Together, the mother-son duo will also decorate a tree in the high school’s recently completed $4.5 million gymnasium. He also will help decorate St. Martin’s Catholic Church — another tradition he’s enjoyed over the years living in Emery.
“This is completely a hobby,” Jansen said, motioning to the holiday decor surrounding him in his family’s home south of Emery.
The apron he wore for his three days in the White House now hangs in his family’s home, for all to see.
The memento is something Jansen plans to treasure, and a reminder of his time in the White House. While he can’t go into great detail about the decorations, Jansen said he speci cally worked on the orna- ments and set-up of the Green Room and foyer.
“I will say it’s probably the best I’ve seen in quite awhile,” Jansen said. “How it’s going to be styled is very true to the White House. I think it’s going to be spectacular.”
Part of his volunteer work also included working in a warehouse and then transporting items to the White House. Jansen said First Lady Melania Trump was very involved in the overall vision of the decorations while one male of cial served as the organizer, along with few other staffers. But the rest was left up to volunteers, who had designated tasks.
Provided with pictures for inspiration and an end goal, Jansen got to work with his fellow volunteers who came from 20 different states and varied in experience. Many of the volunteers had military background, while quite a few also had experience in professional decorating serving as orists and interior designers, Jansen said. But there was also several just like him, who nd decorating a hobby.
“You’re taking something ordinary and making it into something really cool,” Jansen said. “... Everything is always different and I like to mix everything up and make everything look brand new without actually buying anything.”
His passion to re-envision and recreate came in handy, as he estimates 90 percent of the decorations were used in prior years at the White House. And Jansen loved it, he said, as it enabled his creative side.
“Honestly, it was amazing,” he said.
Although he went to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion for accounting and then later to the University of Minnesota for a master’s for the same subject, Jansen’s future may include a career revolving around design and landscaping.
Someday, Jansen said, he would like to return to South Dakota, and possibly start his own business. While that is down the road, he’s going to relish in his recent accomplishment, and he is already consider- ing applying for the gig again.
While it might not be next year, he plans to encourage his mother to also try. And although he was very skeptical of applying himself this year, he’s now learned to “just go for it” and he hopes others will too.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long and it is kind of a dream of mine,” Jansen said. “Give it a shot. You may or may not succeed but if you don’t try, you know you won’t.”
Jansen is unsure if he’ll appear in the 2017 HGTV “White House Christmas” special, but he’ll de nitely be watching. The air date is still to be determined, but anybody interested can check the program schedule for mid-December, Jansen said.
___
Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com