SANTA LUCIA SINGS FINAL NOTE

For about 50 years (no one can say for sure) the Santa Lucia Singers have performed for thousands on and off of Dana’s campus.
And at December’s Sights & Sounds of Christmas they sang for the last time.

Interest in the group has waned for students, but Director Jeanmarie Nielsen ’78 cautions this effect has more to do with what Dana is doing right than what it is doing wrong.

“Students come to Dana to be active,” she said. “But as our fine arts groups have grown in stature and prestige, students need more time to focus on preparing.”

Last spring, Nielsen announced the class would not be offered this fall, essentially saying the group was no more.

The news was sad to many, but especially hard for some of the upperclassmen of the group who saw Santa Lucia as a big part of their Dana College experience.

Senior Jillian Scheerhoorn has performed with the group for four years and was not ready to finish her fifth without it.

“It was disappointing for me to not have Santa Lucia offered,” Scheerhoorn said. “There are a lot of people who love the program, and we were determined to keep it alive.”

Earlier this fall Nielsen approached Scheerhoorn and three other disappointed students — junior Sarah Olson, senior Maureen Gubbels and sophomore Kori Willamsen — and offered them the opportunity to continue Santa Lucia for at least one more year. The new group was called the Santa Lucia Quartet and performed a shorter version of the traditional program following the last setting of the Scandinavian Smorgasbord.

“This little group of troupers said they would continue the program,” Nielsen said.