View Larger Image
A group of preschoolers from the UAMS Head Start program recently celebrated the winter holidays by sharing songs with Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA and others at UAMS.
Image by Bryan Clifton
Head Start Carolers Deliver Holiday Cheer to UAMS
| It was enough to make even the Grinch himself grin. Instead of a shiny sleigh, Santa’s little helpers arrived at UAMS the morning of Dec. 17 by school bus. Oh, what a merry sight the 16 preschool carolers were to behold, and, oh, what fun it was to celebrate the season with them.
The visit by the pint-sized carolers from the UAMS Head Start program is a 19-year tradition. Teacher Cassandra Roy led this year’s group from Kennedy Head Start in Little Rock, joined by teacher assistant Robin McCray, educational lead assistant Pamela Weaver, and educational lead Tamiko Thomas.
The children, ages 3 to 5, were dressed in festive red tops with black pants and plush Santa caps topping their little heads as they filed off the bus for their special delivery.
Arriving at UAMS, the preschoolers were ready to begin sharing the seasonal songs with employees and visitors.
Once inside, the excited but well-behaved tots strolled the hall single file to first call on Christopher Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor and College of Medicine dean. Six wore sleigh bells on their wrists or ankles that jingled and jangled, announcing their arrival. Six others wore white winter gloves.
“You all are too cute!,” one passerby remarked.
Gathered inside the College of Medicine office, the children sang “Up on the House top,” “Let it Snow,” “Feliz Navidad,” and “I Want to Wish you a Merry Christmas.” All of the tunes included choreographed clapping, sound effects and hand motions.
Sixteen preschoolers from Kennedy Head Start recently made stops at UAMS, caroling holiday tunes they’d learned.
Before leaving Westfall’s office, the children gave him a gift bag containing a framed group photo of themselves wrapped in tissue, which he proudly displayed as they filed out.
With a little extra time before their next caroling visit, the children and their teachers gave an impromptu concert outside of Doc Java in Ward Tower. They performed “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from the movie Frozen and “Let it Snow.”
The group shared songs and gifts and, in return, each child went home with a clementine orange from Dr. Patterson.
Next, ushered into the suite of offices of Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, the children were quiet, save for the gentle jangling of their bells.
“Oh my goodness! There are so many of you!” proclaimed a delighted Patterson as he opened his office door. Kneeling down eye level with the children, he asked if they were there to sing for him.
“Will it be an Easter song? A birthday song? Or a Halloween song?” he asked. “No,” they responded after each inquiry.
“Maybe a Christmas song?” he finally asked. “Yes!” they replied. After high-fives all the way around, the children began with “ “Up on the House top” followed by “Let it Snow,” “Feliz Navidad,” and a robust “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
Patterson congratulated the children on their performance and gave each one a clementine orange as they filed out and back through the hallways to their waiting sleigh… oops, school bus.
The Head Start federally funded program serves 500 preschoolers age 6 weeks to 5 years in 12 sites, said executive director Eduardo Ochoa, M.D., section chief of community pediatrics and an associate professor of pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine. UAMS has administered the Head Start program in Pulaski County since 1998.