National Junior Honor Society students planned and hosted a holiday party for 78 senior citizens from our area, complete with paper flowers and door prizes for each guest. This annual event began with a concert of holiday favorites put on by band, orchestra and choral students. In the audience this was Stephen Gitto, who, at 97 years young, is Chatham CSD’s first ever band teacher. Mr. Gitto built Chatham’s music program from the ground up when the District was formed in the early 1950s and he is personally responsible for Chatham having a school orchestra program that, to this day, is the only one in the county. After the concert, Mr. Gitto stood and told the students how proud he was to hear the music they are making today.
Then it was on to the school’s gym where the NJHS served up a turkey dinner cooked up by our cafeteria staff. During the dinner, select music students and our 7th grade Spanish students performed for the crowd and Santa (8th grader Lucy Tassinari) made a visit. Over dinner, our students chatted with their guests and loved hearing stories about Chatham experiences of the past.
The day wrapped up with several rounds of bingo called by 8th grader Narayan Flores. Special thanks to Ms. Rossman for donating several afghans and Chatham Community Cares for donating gift cards for the bingo prizes.
This award-winning event, now in its 29th year at CMS, is always a favorite of our seniors and students, happy holidays!
