Students Perform Easter Play at Holy Spirit Catholic School
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – At the heart of Pocatello is a school bringing children and families together with a history of celebrating Jesus for 71 years. In honor of the Easter holiday, students at the Holy Spirit Catholic School performed a reenactment play of the Easter story on April 10.
In the Holy Spirit community, Easter isn't just one day to celebrate. It's a weeks long appreciation, including the annual play.
"We've been doing it for the school, this is the 71st anniversary," said Margie Gabiola, principal at Holy Spirit Catholic School. "This is a very big tradition for our school family and for our alumni."
Since Gabiola became principal three years ago, she has changed the play to include students of all grade levels from kindergarten to fifth grade.
"Every year there's just some little thing that we will change just because of either the students that we want to showcase a little bit more or there's more of a certain class and we want to provide them with a bigger part," Gabiola said. "So the main story is always the same, but there's elements like songs that are different sometimes.
Local News 8 spoke with the little boy cast as Jesus in the play who told us the part means the world to him.
"If He didn't die on the cross for us, we would not get to have these amazing lives," said Caleb, third grade performer. "If He didn't rise again, we wouldn't know that He's the Messiah."
Leadership at the school say the curriculum incorporates a lot of the fine arts, with music classes running twice a week for all grade levels. They also tell us the play is only possible because of the teachers and staff who help the students rehearse for around six weeks prior to the performance.
"To be able to continue to celebrate [Easter]," Gabiola said, "It's a really big deal for us to keep celebrating it in our community."
Caleb said he had a lot of fun working on the play with his classmates and attending rehearsals Wednesdays and Fridays. The experience is unforgettable for the young students.
"I'm Jesus," Caleb said, when asked about his favorite part of playing Jesus in today's performance. "I'm the one who died on the cross for us. It's just an amazing feeling."
The play concluded with a singing of the song "Alleluia, Love is Alive" by the entire cast. Parents, grandparents and siblings gathered in the chapel gave a standing ovation for the student performers. The tight-knit community of Holy Spirit will welcome everyone again in May for their Exhibition of Excellence, where students will showcase all kinds of art projects.
"We're more than just a school," Gabiola said. "Once you become part of Holy Spirit, you're in a family. Who do you go for to for soccer? Who is your dentist? And so you just have this tight network and you know everybody. When you walk into the school, you should just feel this amazing warmth because everybody just cares about you."
