On February 25, Villa Maria Academy kicked off the second half of the third quarter with the annual Celebrate Gifts event. This event is an opportunity for Villa students to show off their talents to the entire school, and it takes place in Villa’s auditorium.
Students auditioned for the event in December of 2021, and with the help of Villa’s Student Council, they each had their own special moment on stage. The talents that were shown included singing, dancing, baton throwing, and even figure skating. The positive support that each student showed for the performers was obvious, and Celebrate Gifts is a perfect representation of the close Villa sisterhood.
Villa Theology teacher and Student Council advisor Miss Falk has been helping Student Council put together Celebrate Gifts for six years. She loves the fact that Villa still had the opportunity to put on Celebrate Gifts virtually last year, and she also loves how involved the students get with this event.
“The students really spearhead the entire thing from start to finish,” Miss Falk said. “I oversee it, but it is a great opportunity for students to lead something that is enjoyed by the entire school. I also love the faculty involvement in the show, and I think that Celebrate Gifts shows Villa as one big family. The students themselves are so incredibly talented, and I love to see them have their moment to shine. For some of them, it is the first time that they have done any sort of performance, so it is a really special moment. Celebrate Gifts is just such a special tradition at Villa.”
Senior Alex Kitchen has been figure skating for nine years, and she started her figure skating journey at the JMC ice arena. Alex made the decision to show a video of her ice skating to Lana Del Ray’s song “Young and Beautiful” at this year’s Celebrate Gifts event, and her performance was well-loved by the student body.
“I wanted to show my video at Celebrate Gifts because figure skating is not a common talent, like singing or dancing, so I thought I would give the rest of the school an opportunity to see something new,” Alex said. “I also wanted to show everyone my passion for skating. I think that showing a video of myself to the entire school says a lot about my love for skating.”
Alex was very nervous to show her performance to the school, but she really enjoyed hearing the audience clap and gasp at her talent.
“I really enjoyed hearing the audience’s reactions,” Alex said. “It seemed like they were amazed by the tricks that I did, so that was really cool. I am very grateful I got to share my performance with my school.”
Overall, the 2022 Celebrate Gifts event was a success, but it would not be nearly as impressive as it was without Villa’s dedicated teachers and talented students.
