A total of 182 first-graders from seven schools attended the 26th Annual "First Grade Christmas Party" Dec. 10 at Bethlehem Catholic High School.
The party, run by Key Club and Student Ambassadors, service and leadership organizations at Bethlehem Catholic, continues to unite school communities during Advent.
The annual event began in 1998 when Anna Marie Culver, then Advancement Director, and Tony Iasiello, Key Club advisor, worked together on this festive service opportunity.
In 1999, Karen Reading began working as a physical education teacher at Bethlehem Catholic and was asked to co-advise Key Club and assist with the event. Now, 25 years later, Reading continues to advise the Key Club and provide service opportunities, like this, to the students.
Christine Calantoni, daughter of Culver, worked at Bethlehem Catholic for many years, left for a while, and is now back as Director of Admissions helping to organize successful events between partner schools.
Thanks to all their hard work, the first-graders began filing off the bus that morning, decked out in smiles and Christmas hats and headbands, anticipating what was inside. Upon entering the gym, the kids saw the Bethlehem Catholic students dressed in elf costumes, Santa hats, and other Christmas gear.
Everyone patiently waited in the bleachers while listening to Christmas music before they were ushered every half hour in a circuit to several stations: the band room for a Christmas movie, the auditorium where they took pictures with Santa and colored in a book with a Nativity image, and the gymnasium to pin the nose on the gingerbread man and hear the legend of the candy cane.
Imogene Stoverink of St. Michael the Archangel School, Coopersburg-Bethlehem, pinned the nose on the gingerbread man and smiled as she removed her blindfold. While she enjoyed all the activities, seeing Santa was her favorite. Her favorite thing during Christmas is to "open presents, be happy, and joyful," and this event was the start.
The first-grade students were not the only ones who enjoyed the event. President of the Key Club and senior Leah Bender, who participated in the event for the third year in a row, believes it is great for both the Bethlehem Catholic students and the first-graders.
"This is good for my Christmas spirit. My vice president and I went and took a picture with Santa, too."
Because the event has been held for so many years in a row, "it is really nice because we have it set up how we're going to do everything but it's just a matter of getting it all done,” said Bender. “The Key Club members are really responsive. If you say, ‘Can you get up and hang that up?’ they'll do it.”
For some, the event is a great opportunity to get hands-on experience.
Raegan Miltenberger, a junior Key Club member, hopes to enter a college program to study early childhood education: “I'm excited to do it. I love working with kids."
The teachers were all very pleased with the teens and work they put in.
"They love it. We really look forward to it – even me as a teacher," said Mary Berger, a first-grade teacher at St. Isidore School, Quakertown in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. "It's so organized and such a great day for them.
"We love Bethlehem Catholic. Keep doing it. Thank you!"
In addition to St. Michael and St. Isidore, the other grade schools in attendance were Holy Infancy, Notre Dame of Bethlehem, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and St. Anne, all of Bethlehem; and SS. Philip and James, Phillipsburg, N.J. in the Diocese of Metuchen.
In his first year of chaplaincy at Bethlehem Catholic, Father Stephen Isaac, also Chaplain of the Newman Center of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, believes the Christmas party is "an awesome celebration. Children bring the Christmas spirit out in us. It's so beautiful considering what Christmas is about: the birth of Christ."
By Annaleigh Gidosh
