AS THE SUN WENT DOWN, the energy turned up as TK- through eighth-grade students let their voices soar and their excitement shine in a musical and artistic way.
St. Juliana Falconieri Catholic School presented its annual Spring Sing Concert, dubbed “What It Sounds Like,” on May 15 on the Fullerton school’s blacktop. The concert, which showcased each grade in song and featured several dramatic works by the eighth-grade class, also highlighted the students’ other talents with an art show. Each grade had a different project on display, from portraits of saints to illuminated manuscripts and more; it was an opportunity for “community and celebrating the arts,” said the school’s principal, Dr. Terri Puccini.
ST. JULIANA FALCONIERI CATHOLIC SCHOOL’S MUSIC DIRECTOR KIMBERLY TIONGCO CONDUCTS THE FIRST-GRADE CLASS SINGING “L-O-V-E” AT SPRING SING ON MAY 15. PHOTO BY BRITNEY ZINT
“It’s always wonderful to see the students up there singing and performing,” Puccini added. “This is my second show. I got to see the Advent program and now this, and I think they do a great job. They all look like they’re having fun.”
Musical director Kimberly Tiongco, who directed and produced “What It Sounds Like,” conducted the students and danced her way through the 90-minute performance. The five-act show opened with TK singing “You Are My Sunshine” and kindergarten singing “I’m So Happy.” Then the two classes combined to sing “Can’t Stop the Feeling” with scarves.
Watching her students perform was like “a dream,” Tiongco said. “The love of theater, singing, music, dancing and drama — it’s not every day you see schools that have that,” she added. “So, when they do and you get to see these things onstage, you’re like, ‘There needs to be more.’ Because this is how we express ourselves and we need more expression in the world to understand each other.”
Each of the five acts opened with an introduction from five eighth graders acting as the emotions from “Inside Out”: Joy (Stella Baca), Sadness (Naomi Domingo), Anger (Noah Gonzalez), Fear (Ryan Rubadue) and Disgust (Lola Fasulo). Then the acts closed with different scenes from books, movies and plays performed by the eighth-grade class. The skits included “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “The Sandlot” and “Wicked.”
Eighth-grader Roman Marmolejo, 14, played Winnie the Pooh in a scene about Winnie and Piglet being heroes in a storm. For Marmolejo, his final Spring Sing felt nostalgic.
“It felt really exciting seeing everybody in the crowd,” Marmolejo said. “It brings back memories from when I first came here 10 years ago. I feel like I’m going to miss this place.”
Marmolejo, who started at St. Juliana in TK, said his years taking music and art classes have helped him step out of his comfort zone and give him the confidence to sing and act onstage.
For Gonzalez, a fellow eighth grader, the concert was bittersweet but also a symbol of new beginnings. He said he remembers looking up to the big eighth-graders when he was little and thinking he was going to be one of them someday. He encouraged anyone looking up to him that night to try new things.
“Take that chance if you have it,” Gonzalez encouraged. “The decisions that you don’t make are the things you will regret the most.”