On Dec. 18, alumni, parents of alumni, and current and former Wesleyan faculty members were invited to attend the annual alumni Christmas party from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Southbound in Chamblee. At this event, attendees were given the chance to reconnect with old peers and teachers as well as enjoy delicious food and beverages. This party gives alumni the opportunity to be together with some of their favorite teachers and administrators and reminds them of the love they felt at Wesleyan. Director of alumni and peer leadership teacher Shelley Martin said, “The hope is that it is an extension of the gospel, that they walk into the party and feel known, seen, and loved.”
Prior to Dec. 18, lots of planning and promotion was done to make the alumni Christmas party happen. Martin, as the director of alumni, sent out invitations to alumni and their families via email and included a save the date in the monthly alumni newsletter. Additionally, many faculty who have taught at Wesleyan for a long time and faculty who graduated from Wesleyan got together to produce three Christmas music videos to promote the event.
Each of these music videos showed a group of teachers driving to the alumni Christmas party while singing Christmas songs, a concept inspired by James Cordon’s “The Late Late Show” carpool karaoke segment. High school dean of student life and social science teacher Josh Smith, who was featured in each music video, said, “I’ve been here for 13 years, so enough alumni know me and seeing my face encourages them to come to the party.” These videos were filmed in Wesleyan controller Johnny Turner’s car with multiple cameras set up by art teacher Dru Phillips in order to film each passenger while they sang.
The first of these three videos was released on the Wesleyan alumni Instagram account on Nov. 12 and starred Smith as the driver and assistant director of athletics and physical education teacher Lee Rider, director of fine arts and chorus teacher Meg Foster, and math teacher Michael Cornelius ‘08 as singing passengers. Together the group sang two songs, “What Christmas Means to Me” by Allen Story and Anna Gordy Gaye and “Christmas in Hollis” by Run – D.M.C.
The second video was released on Dec. 3 and starred Smith as well as high school theater director Caroline Mitchell ‘15, executive assistant to head of school Melissa Thorson, Bible department chair and Bible teacher Glenn Archer, and grade 9 boys chair and social science teacher Kevin Kadzis who all sang “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams and “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” by NSYNC.
The third and final video was released on Dec. 10 with Smith as the driver once again and English teacher Dawson Zimmerman, grade 11 girls chair and modern and classical languages teacher Maggie Mansour ‘11, grade 11 boys chair and AP capstone and English teacher Brooks Hanrahan, and audio-visual engineer Andrew Strayhorn ‘16 riding along singing “White Christmas” by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and “Little Drummer Boy” by Justin Bieber.
Smith said his favorite part of filming these videos was “getting the chance to be silly because I don’t have that opportunity often since I have to be serious all the time; having a break in my day where I get to go and do something fun is great.” These Christmas music videos successfully promoted the alumni Christmas party and aided in making the party special for all attendees.
