The White House and 2016 National Christmas Tree are seen during the lighting ceremony on the Ellipse, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Young artists from the Lawrence Arts Center this holiday season are enjoying a platform for their work that reaches beyond their usual supporters in the classroom and at home with Mom and Dad.

Students at the Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., were invited by the U.S. Department of the Interior earlier this year to decorate ornaments for the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., and now their pint-sized creations are on display for all to see — just a short walk from the White House on the tall, glittering tree that has been a D.C. tradition for more than 90 years.

Margaret Weisbrod Morris, the Arts Center’s chief program officer, knows well the prestige — and magic — of the National Christmas Tree. She grew up in the D.C. area, with a father who worked for the Department of the Interior, and remembers attending every lighting ceremony from the Carter administration all the way up to George H.W. Bush as a kid.

Now, she’s “proud” to share the excitement with the two classes of preschoolers and elementary school students tasked with decorating the 24 plastic globes now on display in the nation’s capital.

“The preschoolers are kind of little, so they may not have the context,” Weisbrod Morris says. “But telling them it’s going to go on the nation’s Christmas tree, that’s pretty cool. And it makes the kids feel really important. That’s what I liked about it.”

During the fall, Arts Center staffers were sent 24 plastic, transparent globes and a few simple instructions: Make it look good, Weisbrod Morris remembers, and make it waterproof.

The preschoolers ended up taking a more abstract approach, filling the ornaments with colorful paper, paint, glitter and other materials. The older kids, who range from first grade to fifth grade, created miniature snow-globe scenes within each sphere, with small sculptures of animals — an owl, a penguin, a whale — tucked inside.

As of now, Weisbrod Morris says, there aren’t any plans to personally see the ornaments in D.C., where they made their first appearance during the official lighting ceremony (presided over by President Barack Obama) on Dec. 1. But the kids have seen a postcard of the tree, as well as a thank-you note and a commemorative book from the Department of the Interior.

The small ones, she noted, may not be able to grasp the significance of the honor. Traditionally, Weisbrod Morris says, it’s professional artists who are enlisted, not schoolchildren.

Each year, the Department of Interior selects one group or individual from each state to lend their talents to the festive display. It’s the first time, to her knowledge, that the Arts Center has been chosen, and that means a lot to Weisbrod Morris and her fellow art educators, she says.

“I’m really proud of the Arts Center to have the opportunity, and I’m really proud of our youth and our programs,” she says. “Any opportunity where we can showcase their work and the work we do in art education, I’m all onboard and excited about. And this is one of those things.”

Weisbrod Morris says the ornaments will probably remain on display in D.C. through the 12 days of Christmas, which ends on Jan. 5.