2006 Holiday Traditions Conference - Saint Francis University

2006 Schedule - Friday, July 15, 2006

Note: All posted times are EST (GMT -0500)

Time	Presentation	Presenter	Details
7:45 - 9:30 AM	Connection times. If you are connecting to the conference over H.323 videoconferencing, please do so as early as possible.
9:30 AM	Opening	Fr. Gabriel Zeis, President of Saint Francis University
9:45 AM	A Reading from a Christmas Classic	Santa	A reading from the North Pole
10:00 AM	A reading from Dr. Boyd	Dr. Boyd, Saint Francis University	Dr. Boyd from Saint Francis University be reading a favorite Christmas Classic.
10:15 AM	Christmas Bazaar	Secondary Nursing School, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Every year, the Secondary Nursing School organizes a Christmas bazaar; students from every class make small gift, bake cookies, and make Christmas cards. This presentation will talk about our Bazaar and what it means to the community.
10:30 AM	French Holiday	ITIN, Cergy St Christophe, France	French university-level students will speak about festivities around Christmastime (Christmas markets), modern changes concerning habits here, celebrations occurring on the 24th and 25th, folks going home for the holidays, Christmas songs, and the very central Christmas food they eat here.
10:45 AM	Saint Nicholas	Dr. Art Remillard	The true-life history of Saint Nicholas.
11:00 AM	Another Reading from Santa	Santa	Another favorite Christmas Classic read to the students by Santa.
11:15 AM	A Christmas Story: The Night Before Christmas	Avon East Elementary, Avon, OH	Paul Hieronymus from the Avon Schools Technology Department will read the story Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore to a live audience and to students in the Holidays Traditions Conference.
11:30 AM	Various Traditions	Saint Paul Luthern Elementary School, Taylor, TX	Grades K-5 will portray various Christmas traditions including cards, candles, and Christmas trees.
11:45 AM	A Texas Night Before Christmas	Killough Middle School, Houston, TX	Students will read the book the Texas Night Before Christmas and follow with a discussion of their Christmas in Texas traditions, which for many include a variety and combination of traditions due to the cultural diversity found in our classroom.
12:00 PM	Holiday Potpourri	Mahanay School, Houston, TX	Students will give presentations explaining the background of four locally celebrated holidays and discuss how they spend these holidays with their families.
12:15 PM	Jewish Holidays	Bill Wallen, Altoona, PA	Bill will talk about the traditions celebrated by Jews across the world.
12:30 PM	Saint Nicholas	Dr. Art Remillard	The true-life history of Saint Nicholas.
12:45 PM	Santa Reads Again!	Santa
1:00 PM	Saint Francis Nativity	Br. Dennis, Saint Francis University	Brother Dennis from Saint Francis University will talk about and present what goes into their yearly nativity scene.
1:15 PM	A Child's View of Carols	Central Cambria Elementary School, Ebensburg PA	A new twist to Christmas songs, as the children make up new words to old songs.
1:30 PM	Mexican Christmas Piñata	Sinton High School, Sinton TX	Spanish III students will be explaining the Christmas tradition of piñata-making in Mexico. They will also explain the history of the piñata.
1:45 PM	Traditions Around the World and In Our Homes	Mount Zion Elementary School, Lewisberry, PA	We will research and report on interesting holiday traditions around the world. We will also share traditions that we have in our own homes.
2:00 PM	Keep our Ethnic Roots Growing	St. Thomas Middle School, Red Deer, AB Canada	Students at St. Thomas will share Christmas customs and traditions, that their families celebrate annually, which stem from the various ethnicities that pioneered Canada decades ago (and recent ones too). The presentation will focus on how our ethnic identities are amalgamated with our Canadian identities, as a way of making Christmas special while sustaining historic traditions.
2:15 PM	Roll Call	All Sites	Another oppurtunity for every site to say hello!
2:30 PM	Hope for Henry Superhero Toy Drive	Laurie Strongin, Jewish Primary Day School, Washington, DC	Students from the Jewish Primary Day School will talk about the their Superhero Toy Drive and why it is important to them (prerecorded).
2:45 PM	A Multi-Cultural Christmas	Northmount Elementary School, Edmonton, AB, Canada	A diverse population of students from Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and South America will talk about their family traditions for Christmas, Eid and Chinese New Years. They will be wearing traditional clothing for the presentation.
3:00 PM	Holiday Performance	Cleveland Institute of Music, Cleveland, OH	Talented musicians will play a melody of holiday favorites.
3:15 PM	A Night Before Christmas	Santa	To wrap the 2006 Holiday Traditions Conference up, Santa will read "The Night Before Christmas".

*Please note, we attempted to meet everyone's time schedule while still allowing for a diverse selection of presentations.

For more information, please contact Bob Griffin or Dana Parrish at (814) 472-3389.