Rimer Community Learning Center students brought big holiday joy to Akron last week with a lively Christmas program filled with singing, dancing, and drums. Fourth and 5th graders, led by music teacher Gina Hohman, performed classic carols and fun favorites like “Run Rudolph Run,” “Dominick the Donkey,” and “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” while student narrators shared the charming stories behind the songs.

Ten-year-old Ariah Asiedu said her favorite number was I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas because she loved the history behind it, adding “it was just a fun song to sing.” Fifth grader Cashton Nunn said playing drums on Up on the Housetop was a blast: “I’ve been playing for a year now, and drumming that song felt perfect.”

The show also featured drummers for “Frosty the Snowman” and fifth graders showing off their recorders with pieces from The Nutcracker. Thanks to a Save the Music Foundation grant, Akron Public Schools has expanded music programming and access to instruments, something students clearly embraced as they performed for a packed, standing room only audience.

“We always get a good crowd,” Principal Anthony Lane said with a smile. “The students love it, and the families do too.”