Photo Supplied, Ogden School District

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox assists Amy Shirts’ Polk Elementary School fourth graders in decorating the Kearns Mansion library Christmas tree On Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.

OGDEN — When Amy Shirts’ class of 24 Polk Elementary School fourth graders were decorating the Christmas tree in the library of the Utah Governor’s Mansion — also known as the Kearns Mansion — alongside Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Monday, they were all smiles.

But when Shirts announced this opportunity to her class months ago, not all of them were too sure about who Gov. Cox was or the importance of his residence.

“When I first told them, some of them were like, ‘Woah, we’re going to be famous,'” she told the Standard-Examiner Tuesday. “There were others that were a bit unsure what the governor’s mansion was all about. There were some who really didn’t even know what a governor is or that they have a special place to live.”

She said that would serve as an opportunity.

“Quickly, I was able to teach them more about our state government and the role that the governor plays and they became more and more excited as they realized what a special opportunity this was to be able to go and decorate the tree there,” she said. “It gave me a lot of good connections with our curriculum learning about our state. We had actually been reading a story about people who choose to run for office and how the whole election process works. That also tied in with the election last month when Gov. Cox was reelected because we were able to talk a little about that as well.”

From there, all of the fourth grade classes at Polk Elementary worked on ornaments to place on the tree along with the mantle in the library.

On Monday, Shirts said her class had a chance to learn some history about the Kearns Mansion as they arrived and before being escorted to the mansion’s library, where they were introduced to the governor and First Lady Abby Cox.

“The First Lady sat down and she read a story to the children,” Shirts said. “She talked about how she is a former teacher and that she enjoys sharing stories with children. She told them about the history of bringing groups of children into the mansion to have them decorate the tree and the mantle and how that had been going on for a long time.”

Shirts said the children then had an opportunity to decorate the tree and the mantle in the library.

“Part of the children were putting the trees, bears and little gifts on the mantle while the rest of the students were lined up and were each taking three or four of the ornaments and placing them on the tree,” she said. “We had quite a few ornaments, so it took some time.”

Gov. Cox finished by placing a star on top of the tree. The fourth graders also got a tour of the public areas of the mansion and had a short Q&A with the governor.

Among the students was Bradley Winn. “The most fun was probably when the governor was talking about the history of Utah,” Winn said of the experience. “I love history, it’s my favorite subject.”

Another of Shirts’ fourth graders, Kiera Esquibel, said the experience was “amazing.” “I don’t know how to explain it, I’m just very happy,” she said.

Shirts said this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the kids. “I hope it’s something they’ll remember forever,” she said. She added that she hopes it taught the kids a valuable lesson about the state’s chief executive.

“I love that they were able to see a real-life connection between the government of Utah and people who are elected officials that we had been reading about,” she said. “It was neat to be able to see Gov. Cox and the First Lady as just regular people, too. They were very warm and very friendly and enjoyed talking with the kids and getting to know them a little bit.”