Helicopter Santa surprises elementary students in Rexburg
Published at
REXBURG —- Elementary school students got a special surprise from the sky on Monday morning after a helicopter Santa came to visit them.
A helicopter from Air Idaho Rescue with Santa Claus inside flew from the Rexburg Madison County Airport to Burton Elementary School in Rexburg to surprise the students.
“We went pretty big this year. This year we used a helicopter for the very first time,” said Michael Bone, the principal at Burton Elementary School. “I actually got on the intercom this morning and told the children, ‘I just heard from the news that all elementary kids from Rexburg should go outside and look to the skies! That’s all I know, is that we are just supposed to look to the sky!’ And so all the kids gathered outside and they are all excited.”
Bone said the kids were waving and shouting when they went outside and saw the helicopter. They started singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and Kris Kringle himself got out of the helicopter. He waved to the children and took pictures with each class.
“It’s always fun when you can create experiences for the children, things that they’ll remember as students in school, and this is definitely going to be one of those experiences,” he said.
Bone said a few people who work at the school assist with the fire department and Life Flight Network. They coordinated the helicopter surprise for the elementary students just before they are let out of school for the holiday break.
Bone told EastIdahoNews.com he’s considering doing another helicopter Santa next year since it was a huge success, but it also depends on resources. He’s just glad they got to do it for the first time.
“Lots of smiles, lots of laughter, lots of pictures that were taken. It was a great experience,” he said.