Ah, Christmas. Time to deck the halls and get your heart ready for the arrival of baby Jesus. Our school doesn’t stay behind on either of those significant activities. On November 24th of 2019, a beautiful activity that’s a tradition of our school took place. We had the pleasure to attend, one of us as an official reporter of the newspaper and the other as part of the high school’s student council.
For starters, we think it’s a little unfair that this event is only meant to be for elementary school. Honestly, considering that to some extent, we, high school students, need more of the Christmas spirit, as we are constantly under pressure and in need of some joyful moments during school hours. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like if they included us they will leave out the elementary students, all we’re looking for is a schoolwide activity. With that being said, let’s get to the event itself. The dedication that was put into it was very noticeable since putting all this together needs effort and organization. We were really glad to see that the aura that the elementary school building holds hasn’t changed much; welcoming, youthful, playful, and free-spirited. All the handmade decorations that were placed all around the school made it more cheerful and fun. We were really impressed to see a lot of parents supporting, especially dads.
As you might know, part of the Dominican ethical code includes starting activities late. We waited for around 20-30 minutes and they all passed at a painfully slow rate but each one of us maintained ourselves busy and happy. I have to give it up to the student council’s president, Veronica Del Carpio, for opening the activity with a heartfelt speech. Profe Alexis followed next, with a reflection for all of us that I still remember: one day, we will go to sleep and wake up at Christmas with a family to give to; so right now that we are young, we have to receive Christmas with open arms and take advantage of the time we have. He also utilized the metaphor that the ornaments on the tree equal the values we decor our hearts with. Simply beautiful.
Like it always happens, the elementary school chorus sang a couple of songs and it brought the Christmas spirit to everyone. The last speech/reflection of the event was given by the Lic. Leonor, concentrating on what Christmas really is about; giving, sharing, and helping the ones who are in need. After that, they lighted the tree, making everything very special and then, the activity was over. Overall it was, brief, consistent and precise. Even though they still managed to make it a space full of joy.
By Gabriela De Leon & Amelia Sasso