North Hills Students Sing Holiday Songs at Bethlehem Community Center

This morning, about 30 students from North Hills Elementary School headed over to the Bethlehem Community Center to sing to the children in the preschool program.

Quincy Hairston

The North Hills students didn’t just stand there and sing. Music teacher Elizabeth Hartley had choreographed movements to go with each song. And, during “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” they also held up posters that they had made to illustrate different lines. For the line, “you’ll go down in history,” fifth-grader Quincy Hairston had made a poster of George Washington, who is about as historic a figure as you could come up with.

“That’s why I picked it,” Quincy said afterward.

Yamilet Jimenez

When the students sang one of the songs from the movie Frozen, fourth-grader Yamilet Jimenez sang the solo. It was a lot of fun, Yamilet said afterward. “There were a lot of children to make me joyful. I like to sing for little children.”

Jailin Cochrane

Fourth-grader Jailin Cochrane said that he had a good time as well. “I liked that it was a lot of emotion and passion how we sang and everybody loved every song.”

On Thursday at 6 p.m., the students will perform their holiday concert at the school, and you’re welcome to come if you would like. Singing at the center gave the students a chance to become more relaxed about singing in front of people, Hartley said.

Elizabeth Hartley

More importantly, though, it’s a chance to bring high-level music to young children. That experience may plant the seed of wanting to sing in a group themselves one day, Hartley said. “There are music programs all over the county. These kids are doing what kids can do if they have a supported music program.”

Karen Crim, the guidance counselor at North Hills, took responsibility for handling the recorded music that backed up the students. After the North Hills students finished singing, Santa paid a visit. He had enjoyed “Rudolph” so much that he asked the Bethlehem and North Hills students to join him in singing it again.

North Hills’ annual visit to the Center is done with the support of the Phi Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, which provided snacks and gift bags for the students that they received on the way out.

The president of the chapter is Carolyn Parker, who was the principal at Griffith Elementary School when she retired.

The sorority supports the center in other ways as well, and, before the North Hills students arrived the members of the sorority celebrated Bernice Davenport, who has been retired longer than the 30 years she was a teacher at such schools as Diggs and Kennedy. LaRue Cunningham, who taught at Wiley and Griffith before reting in 2007, was on hand as well.

Principal Karen Roseboro of North Hills is a member of the sorority. Her son Carson Matthew Roseboro was born Aug. 29. She just returned from maternity leave at the beginning of December, and, after the students sang, she stuck around for a few minutes to give her sorority sisters the opportunity to see pictures of Carson Matthew.