Pace Academy Honors Retiring Lower School Head at Holiday Program

The Pace Academy Lower School staged performances of “Light One Candle,” its annual holiday program, on Dec. 18 and 19 in the school’s Fine Arts Center. It also was the occasion to honor the performers' biggest fan, Head of Lower School Anna Valerius.

The holiday tradition, now in its 23rd year, is a retelling of the Hanukkah and Christmas stories. Pre-First students portray angels; first-grade students are cast as the historical figures; students in the second, third and fourth grades serve as the chorus; and fifth graders narrate the stories.

Valerius was instrumental in crafting the program and has been its performers' biggest fan for more than two decades. “Mrs. V,” as the students fondly call her, will retire at the end of the current school year after 31 years at Pace. To honor her contributions to the production, on Dec. 19, faculty, staff and students named the Fine Arts Center seats in which she and her husband, Al, watch the performance every year after the beloved couple.

Longtime Lower School faculty member Deb Cook presented “Mr. and Mrs. V” with the plaques that will adorn their seats for years to come, and the members of the Class of 2014 who have attended Pace since Pre-First recognized Valerius for her impact on their lives. To close the program, the fourth and fifth grades performed a special rendition of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” one of Valerius’s favorite songs, before an emotional audience.