Dear MTUESD Community,
Holiday traditions in the San Francisco suburb I grew up in in the 1960s, revolved around going to the mall and marveling at the animated carousels in the common area. If my dad had a good winter as a plasterer, the four of us kids would be able to choose an item from the food court. To my mother‘s chagrin, we often selected cherry Jell-O and a hardboiled egg and not the exotic offerings of Chinese food or enchiladas that were outside of the norm of our daily experience. Christmas was insanely exciting. We got our one new pair of Winter patent leather shoes, and my grandma would make us a dress–and the simple celebrations and family parties, topped by a magical Christmas Eve, were memories of a lifetime.
Those days of long ago brought a frantic excitement I have not felt for a long time that was rekindled on Saturday night during the Angels Camp Business Association Holiday Parade. I sat on the bus with the kids from Mark Twain Elementary School, who had made posters and wrapped presents to hang on the garland rope that festooned the outside of the bus, which, under the direction of committed staff member Emily Anderson-Mucks, the students decorated to an inch of its life. Bus driver Stephanie Slaton dressed up as Santa’s elf, while staff members, Capria Olivier Tax and Amber Sherrow kept order.
As the bus inched down Main Street, the kids, whose heads were adorned with garland, sang off-key, loudly shouting “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” while waving vigorously, I felt that same feeling of long ago. For one moment, it reminded me of being a seven-year-old fueled by the holiday wonder at the mall. The crowds that packed the streets waved back and when you saw someone you knew, they shouted an extra hearty greeting. My heart tugged seeing the mom who jogged next to the bus, her face glowing with pride, to get that video of her kid waving fanatically out the window. That moment in time will be that student’s childhood memory in 50 years. So simple. So good.
I wish to thank this community for all that they do for our families. In some locales, participating in parades is often the privilege of the wealthy, depending on the family's means or a kid's extracurricular activities. In Angel’s Camp, people aren’t left behind.
For a year and a half our staff has been working so hard to “move that bus on achievement” and, Saturday night, with the magic of those LEDs on the inside of the bus and the outside dangling with the “gift of learning packages” will be remembered by those kids for decades to come and are a precursor to me of more progress moving forward. From my school family to yours, I wish you the happiest of holidays.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290
Every Student. Every Day. Every Possibility.