Head Start Carolers Spread Holiday Cheer at UAMS
Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., gets a hug from one of the Head Start carolers.
| Dec. 17, 2015 | Twenty preschoolers jingled and jangled their way through the UAMS halls Dec. 11, singing holiday songs and spreading lots of cheer.
The children from the Martin Luther King Jr. Head Start school visited UAMS to sing for Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., and others on campus.
“The kids look forward to the performance,” said Davette M. McLemore, the education program specialist for UAMS Head Start, which operates sites throughout Pulaski County. “At all of our centers, the children and teachers look forward to this time of year and ask who will get to sing on campus this year.”
Decked out with antlers and other festive headbands and bells on their legs, the children excitedly crowded into the chancellor’s offices.
Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., talks with children from the Martin Luther King Jr. Head Start school after they sang for him in his office.
Led by teacher Jannetta Palmer, they sang “Up on the House Top,” Feliz Navidad,” “Let It Snow,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” and “Jingle Bell Rock,” complete with choreographed hand motions.
Rahn, looking festive in a Santa hat, quickly found himself singing along with the carolers.
At the end of their songs, the children presented Rahn with a card, and he gave them oranges. Then he sat down on the floor, surrounded by the children and admired the card.
As he reluctantly got up to go back to work, he told the kids with a laugh that they “should come every Friday.”
Earlier that morning, the children performed for College of Medicine Dean Pope L. Moseley, M.D., presenting him a card they had made.
“It was so nice of you to come over and see us,” Moseley told the children as he shook their hands. “You made our Christmas.”
College of Medicine Dean Pope L. Moseley, M.D., shows off a card that carolers from the UAMS Head Start program presented him following their performance.
The preschoolers also passed out candy canes. While at UAMS, the children stopped to sing for UAMS Medical Center CEO Roxane Townsend, M.D., and hospital administration, as well as patients and visitors in the hospital’s Lobby Café and the surgical waiting room.
Finally, a very tired group of preschoolers headed back to the bus, but not before they sang, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” to the nurses and patients in pre-op.
UAMS Head Start serves 760 preschoolers at 12 sites in Pulaski County, while the Early Head Start program cares for 88 infants and toddlers at three locations. The program’s director is Tyra Larkin. UAMS has administered the Head Start program in Pulaski County since 1998.