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Hilltoppers celebrate holiday traditions
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Second-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School performed “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” during the school’s annual Holidays Traditions program on Dec. 17.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Hilltop Elementary School second-grade students sang “We Are The Family” during the school’s annual Holidays Traditions program under the direction of Tom Scurich, Hilltop music teacher, on Dec. 17.
By ABBY SLANKER
Hilltop Elementary School second-grade students treated their audience of family, friends and fellow students to a holiday trip around the world, during the school’s annual Holiday Traditions program on Dec. 17. The students performed the show three times throughout the day.
The students, under the direction of Tom Scurich, Hilltop music teacher and accompanied by Courtney Larson on the piano and Nanette Midgley on the guitar, performed the holiday program which included songs representing several countries. Musical arrangements were by Paul and Teresa Jennings.
“Welcome everyone. Thank you for coming. This holiday program is the result of a lot of hard work by our second-grade students and teachers. They are excited to perform for you,” said Joe Maroni, Hilltop Elementary School principal as he welcomed the crowd.
The students entered the multi-purpose room with a processional of “Joy to the World” and once the students were on stage, asked audience members to stand and recite the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
Throughout the program, students performed the songs “O Christmas Tree” of Germany, “O Come, Little Children” of Scandinavia, “The Friendly Beasts” of Southern Europe, “Deck the Halls” of Great Britain, “O Hanukkah” of Israel and the Jewish Nation, “The Pinata Song” of Mexico, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” of the United States, “Harambee” an African-American song by James McBride, “Up on the Housetop/Jolly Old St. Nicholas” of the United States and “We Are The Family” by Ray Repp.
Each song represented its country of origin and in between numbers, students read the holiday traditions of the countries highlighted. For example, before singing “O Christmas Tree,” a student noted Germany was the first country to have the Christmas tree, and before singing “Harambee,” a student noted the holiday was started in 1966 to celebrate African roots. The student also explained that the holiday starts on Dec. 26 and is celebrated for seven days.
A student also noted, before the performance of “Up on the Housetop/Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” that the U.S. has the most customs and beliefs because the country is made up of people from all over the world, and before singing “We Are The Family,” a student pointed out that families everywhere celebrate the holidays in their own special ways.
Six students performed solos during “The Friendly Beasts,” with three of them dressed as a donkey, a sheep and a cow.
“Good morning and welcome. You have been a wonderful audience. Parents, grandparents, friends and students, thank you for being here to support our second-graders,” Scurich said, as he addressed the audience.
After thanking all those at Hilltop whose hard work contributed to the success of the program, especially second-grade teachers Edith Narducci, Michelle Tancer, Bethany Lopatta and Gretchen Fernstrom, and including the entire Hilltop faculty and staff, Scurich announced the students would like to invite the audience to join them in singing “Silent Night” to close the program.
The students sang the first verse in German and for the second verse, the audience joined in to sing the classic holiday carol in English, which, according to Scurich, was composed by Franz Gruber almost 200 years ago on Christmas Eve and was first sung in Austria in 1818.