SHORELINE – The flashes of proud parents’ digital cameras were neverending as their children, Briarcrest Elementary’s kindergartners, first- and second-graders, took to the open-air stage of last week’s Family Heritage Festival at the school.
Celebrated in conjunction with Briarcrest’s 50th anniversary, the students demonstrated their newly found cultural expertise before hundreds of friends, neighbors and former Briarcrest educators and alumni on June 17.
Each class involved learned the intricacies of its dance, while a chorus of the remaining students sang accompaniment. The dances and songs ranged from first-graders in grass skirts and sarongs performing the Hukilau from Hawaii to kindergartners circling around for a Japanese cherry-blossom dance.
“I was very impressed with what such young individuals could do,” said Allen Leslie, Briarcrest’s music and performing arts teacher.
Leslie and teacher Pam Willoughby worked for 12 weeks with the students. The first six weeks, Leslie said, were spent reading stories, singing songs and learning about a the cultural aspects of each ethnicity discussed. They focused on eight cultures: China, Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, Korea, India, Mexico and England.
During the second six weeks, with the help of a grant from the Shoreline Public Schools Foundation and the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council, Leslie and Willoughby welcomed Pacific Northwest Ballet dance instructor Suzanne Osterberg and pianist Anastasia Workman.
They taught the students dancing basics that formed the foundation of each dance learned, Leslie said.
“We were interested in dance fundamentals and getting the kids comfortable,” he said.
Students demonstrated many of the skills learned to kick off the festival, before each class had the opportunity to shine during their specific performance.
The evening of festivities also commemorated 50 years of education at Briarcrest.
Former principals, teachers and students attended and had the opportunity to visit with long-lost friends and see how the school has changed over the years.
Camille Burton, formerly Camille Bills, spent all seven elementary-school years at Briarcrest, and she decided to stop by and chat with old friends.
“I really wanted to see my fifth-grade teacher,” Burton said.
Although she was disappointed she wasn’t able to connect with the teacher, Burton said she enjoyed chatting with other former students and seeing the children perform.
Retired teacher Doris Deringer-Cliff taught at Briarcrest from 1958 to 1971.
She said she was surprised to see people she remembered at the celebration.
“I saw someone who was here in the second year I was here (teaching),” Deringer-Cliff said.
She remembers the school looking completely different, yet the visit still brought back fond memories.
“I loved it here,” she said.
Principal Bob Koontz welcomed families with tidbits about events that were happening during Briarcrest’s first year. Dick’s Drive-In opened and the ferry Kalakala made its maiden voyage.
Koontz and former teacher Ed Orsborn opened a time capsule Orsborn’s students compiled in 1986, which included information from each student in his class..
During an evening that focused on diversity and history, Orsborn read a newspaper headline that brought everything full circle.
“Angels blank M’s 5-0,” Orsborn laughed. “Some things never change.”
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