Guitars, basses and rock, oh my!

For the second year in a row, Hershey High School Social Studies teacher JJ Ortiz hosted a Jam session in his room for the Hershey High School Community Day on October 7th. The goal of the session was to learn songs based off of guitar skill level and to just have a good time.

Ortiz has been playing guitar for 21 years. His goal during community day was to help students enjoy the time at the guitar jam session, no matter what their skill level is.

When first arriving to the guitar jam session, everyone was doing their own thing. As the period went on, the different guitars started to become one. During the jam session, the students played music from rock bands like Green Day. Some Students borrowed guitars from the school and others brought in their own.

Jam session member and HHS senior Wyatt Roush spent his first session helping foreign exchange student Ahmed Kahn from Afghanistan learn to play for the first time.

Another jam session participant and HHS senior Kaleb Rothenhoefer said, “Music inspires people and brings people together”.

Guitar Club meets every Thursday in Mr Ortiz’s room . Similar to the jam session on Community Day, the club watches guitar videos and learns to play different songs together. Anyone may join, from beginners to experts.

“If someone comes up with a riff, we will all learn it and jam out to it.” said Ortiz.

The club is meant to be a fun place to enjoy music and people.

Roush, a Guitar Club member, released his own album on iTunes earlier this year called Morose. Roush only started writing songs a little over a year ago after going through a breakup. Before he was a singer/songwriting, he was attending school for film making.

“After I started writing music, I thought wow I’ve wasted two years of my life with film making” said Roush.

He is currently working on his third album at Sugarcane Studios in Camphill. He spends everyday after school at the studio getting his sound right.