Colton, CA—Holiday Spirit was alive and well at Colton High School this year.

On Friday, December 10, the Colton High School Choir delivered seasons greetings around campus as they sang Mariah Carey’s Christmas staple, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” outside classrooms in the 300, 460, and 80 wings during sixth period.

The event was organized by Choir director, Kenneth Taber, who was excited to bring Christmas spirit to campus. “What inspired me to do this? My love of Christmas, my love of music, and this fantastic choir that I have.”

That fantastic choir was led by three soloists—junior Vivian Guevara and sophomores Natalie Diaz and Marcella McKinney—who kicked off the song with their powerful vocals. They were backed by the soulful harmonies of the well-arranged choir’s soprano and baritone sections.

Natalie Diaz was nervous, but excited at the same time: “I’m nervous to be performing as a group for the first time and being able to go this together,” she said, “but it’s important that we all have fun, you know. This is really important to me, and I’m really passionate about singing and music. I hope we all just enjoy ourselves, and maybe grow more as a program, and as a team.”

Marcella McKinney had a lot of fun caroling. “I felt pretty good,” she said. “It was like I was a ‘real’ singer. I liked being the center of attention, even if it was just for 30 seconds.”

The event was the first of its kind on campus, and got students out of their typical routine. As the choir performed outside the 300 classrooms, students from Mr. McKay’s and Mr. Le’s classes poured into the hallway to watch. Teachers Ms. Eva Hernandez and Ms. Sneha Sharma opened up their doors and danced along. In the 460, social science wing, Ms. Lacy, Mr. Glass, and Mr. Levine’s classes crowded the ramps to enjoy the singing. “They were on key, which is great,” Mr. Levine praised.

But the most exciting moment of the experience was in the Math wing, when Ms. Roxanne Berch invited the large choir group into her room to perform exclusively for her class. The choir was energized by the invite, and gave their best performance of the afternoon.

Ms. Berch was overjoyed. “This class—we were just waiting for someone to knock on our door to sing to us!”

Later that night, the choir, riding the momentum of the afternoon performances, performed at the Winter Concert, held at Grand Terrace High School’s theater. There they performed a second number, “Winter Lullaby.”

“It was honestly very very fun,” Vivian Guevara said after the caroling was done. “I really liked it.”