It‘s become a Christmas tradition-the Lights of Hope display at St. Paul‘s Hospital in downtown Vancouver.

For the last few years, BCIT has had a role to play in that tradition, as electrical instructors and students from the School of Construction and the Environment lend a hand setting up the massive display.

This season, Lights of Hope is the biggest it‘s ever been, and BCIT's volunteers were part of a team of 200 people constructing the display.

Instructors Paul Kettlewell and Bryan Forman brought a number of students to work on the site for several weeks: Kevin Antrobus, Jack Chow, Andrew Cumiford, Sean Draganiuk, Robert Erschbamer, Matthew Finlay, Simon Jarvis, Kenneth Law, Tyler Legge, Timothy MacDougall, Benjamin O'Brien, James Thompson, Zeljko Vukelic, Caleb Wells, Brendon Wolff and Guangji Zhu.

This year, there are enough lights to stretch around the Stanley Park seawall, and a new star canopy frames the Burrard Street entrance. In total, the display for 2005 will have a record 475 stars.

Lights of Hope is part of the largest annual fundraising campaign for St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation, which hopes to raise $1.5 million this year.

To find out more about Lights of Hope, visit www.helpstpauls.com

The display will be illuminated until January 5.