Talent on Display at West Patent Elementary Family Fun Night
Kids were screaming as the lights came up at the Mary Lou Meese Theater at Fox Lane High School last Friday night. But it wasn’t a world famous pop star performing.
Students in grades K-5 were actually cheering for their classmates during the West Patent Elementary School Family Fun Night, an annual talent show sponsored by the West Patent Elementary School Association (WPESA).
“This excitement, this energy…there’s no other event throughout the school year that gives them this opportunity,” said WPESA co-President Jessica Cambareri.
Performances to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Shake it Off” and songs from the Disney movie “Frozen” dominated the night, which featured about two dozen acts. Other children showed off dance routines that they choreographed themselves, demonstrated their knack for archery and played the piano.
Cambareri, who has been helping out with Family Fun Night for the past seven years, said she is consistently impressed by the talent level and comfort the students display as they step onto the high school stage, which is much larger than the one they’re used to at West Patent.
“We are always amazed,” she said. “They work really hard and this is the one day of the year that they really get to showcase their talents and their range and it’s just a great, fun night.”
This year students were surprised and excited by a special dance performance to “The Cupid Shuffle” by the West Patent Dance Team, a group comprised of about two dozen teachers from the school.
West Patent music teacher Anne Marie Kmetz, who joined her colleagues in the dance routine despite suffering from a concussion, explained that teachers used to regularly perform at the fundraising event but took a break as it became difficult for them to fit rehearsals into their schedules.
Kmetz decided to bring teacher participation back this year, much to the delight of students who danced and clapped while they watched their teachers perform on stage.
“This year it just felt like we needed that team spirit again so I put the word out and I was surprised but I got a lot of responses back from the teachers,” she said.
The WPESA typically raises more than $100,000 per year for student events. It collected $440 in concession money during Family Fun Night that will benefit special fifth-grade activities, and also raised another $1,675 for WPESA.
To cap off their final Family Fun Night, all fifth-graders were invited on stage to dance for the last time as West Patent Elementary School students.
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.
