The worship hall of Alliance Church on Thatcher Dr. was filled close to capacity on the evening of Dec. 14, with hundreds of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and more cheering on their little ones for the Sunningdale Elementary School holiday concert.
Dave Osberg, principal of Sunningdale, welcomed attendees and thanked them for supporting the staff and students. Students and teachers worked hard on putting the concert together, he said, and it was great to see the results of that in the sea of smiling faces at the event.
"I love the enthusiasm and the spirit and the warmth, and the fun the kids are having on stage," said Suzanne Vance, a fifth-grade teacher at Sunningdale. "I've been teaching 32 years, and I've probably been to a concert for every single one of those years."
The children represented a diverse range of backgrounds and beliefs, and sang a selection of religiously neutral holiday hits, belting them out to accompanying pop music such as Sia's 2017 hit "Candy Cane Lane".
"It's awesome coming here for these concerts," said Aaron Halvorson, whose granddaughter Shylynn had just finished performing. "I've enjoyed it every year, every year. It's a lot of fun."
The even concluded with the announcement of a fundraising campaign to build a new, fully accessible playground structure at Sunningdale. The campaign will need to raise at least $100,000, in addition to an already-secured grant of $35,000 from Prairie South School Division.
Principal Osberg showed an artist's rendering of what the playground might look like and asked children in the choir whether it looked like something they would want. He was immediately overwhelmed by a spontaneous chant of "YES" from the students — it took several humorous moments to calm the children back down.
"Thank you all again for being here," Osberg concluded, "and a very happy holidays to all our Sunningdale families."
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