By: Bella D’Adderio
For only one day of the year, HHS students get together and share their passion for guitar.
On April 29th, students of Hershey High gathered in J.J. Ortiz’s room to play guitar despite their inability. Thanks to junior Wyatt Roush and sophomore Dane Hoover many were able to either learn how to strum simple songs, or build off of their prior background.
As the jam session began, students were split into groups based on their ability. Those with experience went with Roush into Pete Steelman’s room, while the beginners stayed with Hoover in Ortiz’s room. By just one fret at a time, these students were able to learn songs they’ve never played before.
Ortiz, American History and Psychology teacher, said he had the idea to get some people together and play guitar. Ortiz’s high school offered something similar to Community Day growing up, and since this was one of his fondest memories in high school, he wanted to contribute as much as he could.
Ortiz has been playing guitar since he was twelve years old, and has gained an appreciation for old school southern blues, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, and Pearl Jam.
“I’m kinda all over the place,” Ortiz said, “as long as it sounds good.”
Although Ortiz wasn’t the one teaching the students during his session, he was still active while watching over both groups taught by Roush and Hoover.
Roush has been playing guitar for a year. Despite only playing for a short amount of time, Roush not only writes his own music, but he is also in the process of finishing his second album.
His ability was able to be shared with other students, teaching them both “Pumped Up Kicks,” by Foster The People and “Shook Me All Night Long,” by AC/DC.
Although Roush was able to complete this task, he said he still needs to learn how to spend his time teaching the different abilities within a group.
Hoover, on the other hand, spend most of his time with the beginners during the session. Teaching them “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” step by step, he was able to have each students playing just about the whole song by the end of their time spent together.
Because Hoover taught himself, he knew exactly how to work with the students by writing the chords on the board.
By the end of the session, no matter the ability of each student, everyone was able to learn something new while spending time with classmates.
“Hopefully [Community Day] does really well so we can keep doing it,” said Ortiz.
