Palatine High School choir books a date at White House
The White House is home to a former Chicagoan.
So it is natural that Christmas at the White House will have a Chicago-area touch.
The Palatine High School Concert Choir has been chosen to perform at the White House's annual Christmas Open House Monday, Dec. 21.
Under the direction of Choral Director Steve Sivak, the group will sing a pair of two-hour sets, the first beginning at 7:30 a.m. local time, followed immediately by the second at 9:30 a.m.
The announcement was made Thursday at the Holiday Choral Concert.
"We're very excited, said senior Kylen Sandquist. "It's really cool that our school from little Palatine, Ill., will be represented."
"I think this is going to be incredible," Sivak added.
The two sets will include "Jingle Bells" played in a variety of styles, "This is That Time of the Year" and "Stars I Shall Find."
Even though about 75 members of the group are making the trip, only 50 - split into two groups of 25 - will get to sing at the White House. The entire group will still get to sing together in other locations in D.C., including the World War II memorial.
Sivak added that a vocal jazz group extracted from the choir also will perform.
Around 90 people, including adult chaperones, will travel on two buses to the nation's capitol Saturday.
"When (Sivak) first announced it, we were all worried because only 50 kids can go," Kylen Sandquist said. But now that everyone can go, "It is exciting that everyone can at least go and support each other."
Sivak made the decision to take everyone after a student suggested that not only could those not singing at the White House travel to support the singers, but also could join them in singing at other venues.
"We were all thinking the same thing," Sivak said. "We're a team. We want to be on the trip together."
The selection was a month in the making. Sivak said he thought that with Obama in the White House, having a quality, diverse group of students from the Chicago area would be "pretty cool."
Sivak's cousin's son, who worked on college campuses on behalf of the Obama campaign, provided him with the president's contact information. He then had Kylen Sandquist's father, Elroy "Sandy" Sandquist, compile a CD of the group's songs to be sent to Washington.
Sivak got a call on his cell phone last week, a few hours before their holiday concert, notifying him that they've been chosen to perform. He surprised the choir with the news in an announcement during the show.
The choir's Washington, D.C. trip will replace a trip the choir was scheduled to make to a Cincinnati theme park for a choral contest. Neither the students nor the parents appear to be too upset about the change.
"The White House is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Sandy Sandquist said. "We can always go to Cincinnati next year."