Hong Yao

Latin students sing ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ in Latin as a gift to President Ann Marie Krejcarek. Originally, songs were all sung in French but now they are sung in Mandarin, Latin, Spanish, and French.

Today, all students K-12 gathered in the Herbert gym on the Broadway campus to celebrate in Noëls. Students sang a song according to the foreign language that they were taking. 

“This is my third year doing Noëls and I really appreciate this tradition,” says junior Nathania Chao. “This year’s event was pretty similar to previous years as we sang the same song as we did last year but I enjoyed the consistency,”

For many of the students there, they had been participating in many previous years of Noëls. However, for the kindergarteners and some freshmen, this activity was a new experience, and for most students, it was a nice break from the same everyday classes, according to Chao. 

“This year was the first time I had participated in Noël’s. All of my friends had told me about it, so I kind of knew what to expect,” freshman Addie Sanford says. “I thought that it was really cute to see all the little kids sing their songs and I had a lot of fun doing it with my friends.”

In preparation for the day, all of the different groups had to practice and memorize the song that they had to perform, according to Spanish teacher Rebecca Jenkinson. The teachers of the foreign language classes were the ones to teach and prepare the students for their songs.

“I have been teaching Noëls to students since around 2018,” Jenkinson said. “I think that it’s a cool way to teach and learn language through song and also bring everyone together and get people out of their comfort zones. I feel like it definitely helps grow the feelings of comradery and school spirit,”

Noëls started as a tradition where students would honor the Superior, a title that was later changed to President, according to sacredsf. The seniors, as well as singing a song with their language classes, sing a special song to the school which has historically been ‘Noël de Notre-Dame’ for the girls.

“I like how Noëls is a chance for all of us – elementary, middle, and highschoolers – to get to share a space together,” Chao says. “It’s a very sweet tradition that seems to bring joy to everyone.”