By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The Christmas tree in the Dreiling Lobby of the Fort Hays State University Sheridan Hall is decorated with unique sparkling silver ornaments. When you look closely, you can see the official FHSU Tiger logo engraved onto each piece.

A traditional star topping the Christmas tree also features the Tiger logo.

“Instructor Randy Jordan and Assistant Professor Kris Munsch of the FHSU Institute of Applied Technology worked together in the campus metal lab to design and cut the ornaments with a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) mill,” according to Melissa B. Dixon, University Relations Social Media Coordinator.

“This ‘upcycle’ project used scraps of aluminum diamond tread plate that were too small for other projects and resulted in about 30 finished pieces,” she wrote in a FHSU Facebook post Tuesday.

Dixon included a close-up picture of one of the handcrafted Tiger ornaments in the post and she suddenly had “several requests from people wanting to know if they could buy the ornaments,” so Dixon contacted Kim Stewart, the Institute’s Executive Director, who is also an associate professor.

“From time to time our TEECA Group (Technology and Engineering Education Association students) do things such as the Christmas ornaments for fundraisers. However, I believe we are all out of this particular ones at this time. Not to say we could not duplicate them at some point in time,” Steward said.

Given the interest on the Facebook posting, the FHSU ornaments could be a popular Christmas purchase next year by alumni and supporters alike.