by Kelly Rogge
A Kansas City Kansas Community College tradition continued Dec. 2 as the college celebrated the start of the holiday season during the school’s oldest tradition, the Candlelighting Ceremony.
This is the 93rd year for the ceremony, which featured performances by the KCKCC music and theatre departments including the Vocal Jazz Ensemble “The Standard” and a reenactment of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” in under 10 minutes.
In addition, students from the Intercultural Center performed John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Those in attendance were asked to stand toward the end of the ceremony to light their candles and sing familiar holiday carols including “We Wish you a Merry Christmas” and “Silent Night.” A new feature this year was selecting Christmas carols through text message voting.
Andrea Watts, a KCKCC alum and current Wyandotte High School choral music director, served as the keynote speaker.
A student at KCKCC from 2001 to 2004, she attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City where she received a bachelor of music education. She has been teaching at Wyandotte High School since 2009 where she helped to create the school’s choral music program. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is the praise and worship leader and music director at Reaping the Harvest Ministries International.
“I was able to glean from some of the best musicians, teachers, educators and people here in this building,” Watts said of her time as a KCKCC student. “This school is phenomenal. The staff here are amazing I am indebted to the people here at KCKCC.”
During her speech, Watts shared some of the obstacles she had to overcome while pursuing her degree. She encouraged students to continue working hard to achieve their goals.
“If you continue to keep the faith and move forward and think positively, you can overcome any challenges you may face,” she said.
The Candlelighting Ceremony was started in 1923 by KCKCC faculty members. It remains the oldest tradition at KCKCC and serves as an opportunity for students, staff and faculty to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. During that first year, a collection was taken to fund student scholarships. This tradition has continued in the form of a free will offering, and over the years, more than $10,000 has been collected for student scholarships at KCKCC.
“Thank you to everyone who gave to the KCKCC Foundation,” said Andrica Wilcoxen, director of student activities at KCKCC. “Your donations will help to continue to provide scholarships for our current and future students.”
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at KCKCC.