In the city of Midland, Michigan in the northern United States sits the Charles W. Howard (CWH) Santa Claus School. This is not a school that children attend to learn grammar and fractions but one which adults travel to once a year. There, they learn how to play the role of Santa Claus.
For better or worse, Christmas is a profitable business in the modern world, particularly in the US. Therefore, during winter, thousands of people across the country are hired by businesses to put on Santa’s famous red cloak, red hat, and white beard. These Santas will appear at public spaces, where starry-eyed children sit on their knees and dreamily recite their lists of all the wonderful Christmas gifts they desire.
Given this demand, the CWH Santa Claus School is dedicated to training adults to be the best Santa Claus they can be. Started by Charles Howard himself in New York in 1937, the school has a mission to uphold the traditional image and preserve the history of Santa Claus. Meanwhile, it also teaches students how to incorporate their personalities into the role.
The school was relocated to a new place in Midland by its current manager, Tom Valent, in 1986. It now offers a three-day crash course every October for aspiring Santa Clauses to learn under the guidance of Valent and other instructors. The curriculum includes such content as singing, toy production, and even reindeer care.
a crash course速成班，短期培訓課程 instructor [ ɪnˈstrʌktɚ ] n. 教練；指導員；講師 reindeer [ ˈrenˌdɪr ] n. 馴鹿（單複數同形）
The CWH Santa School is dubbed the “Harvard of Santa schools,” and there are good reasons why the school enjoys such a glowing reputation. In addition to being a family-run operation, it recruits Santa teachers from all over the world to hand down knowledge about how to be the very best Santa Claus.
