St. Regis School holds concert, project to benefit students
St. Regis students sing “Carol of the Bells” during the annual Winter Concert on Dec. 18, directed by music teacher Derek Larson. (Photo courtesy of Joe Steele)
Grace King (left), Kaylee Crabb (middle) and Emma Davis (right) display gifts purchased with funds raised by St. Regis students to help families in need during the holiday season. (Photo courtesy of Joe Steele)
Santa (aka Ron Forest) asks children what they want for Christmas during the evening of the St. Regis School’s Winter Concert held on Dec. 18. (Photo courtesy of Joe Steele)
Holiday festivities were in full swing at St. Regis School just before their Christmas break. They included the annual Winter Concert, a visit from Santa and a project to help local students. The project was started last September in the Personalized Learning Time (PLT) classroom. Kaylee Crabb, who teaches the class, challenged her students to “think beyond themselves” and do something for others.
They took up the challenge and helped raise funds for local students to have a good Christmas. This was done by putting decorative coffee cans in local businesses for donations. All the other K-12 St. Regis classes also got involved and brought change or dollars to their classrooms over a three-week period. The classroom with the most money won an ice cream party.
The girls in the PLT class didn’t think the project was going to be very successful, but once they counted donations from the first week they became “super excited with the outcome,” Crabb said. “We got to the end of the third week, and we had raised $522.36. Kindergarten had the most at $180.”
Once the money was collected, Crabb took her class to Missoula so they could shop for presents for the kids of St. Regis. When all the gifts were purchased, Tyler Cheesman, Grace King and Crabb wrapped the presents so they were ready to go home before break.
King, one of the students in the class, feels the project was a success. “It was a nice feeling to help other people,” she said. “I was pleased to see so many kids from the school get involved.”
The annual Winter Concert was held on Dec. 18, directed by Derek Larson. Mineral County House District Rep. Denley Loge also lent his musical talents by playing the trombone with the band. Afterward, Santa (aka, Ron Forest) listened to last-minute gift ideas from children on the nice list. Classes for the students will resume on Jan. 7.