Senior citizens were treated to free breakfast, live music and a tour of Homewood-Flossmoor High School on Thursday, Oct. 27, in an event that was an annual even prior to the pandemic.
The breakfast was prepared by H-F culinary students. The tour guides and the two performing musical acts, Six of Spades and Miyako, were made up of H-F students.
The morning began in H-F’s Mall Auditorium with a performance from Six of Spades, an ensemble made up of of H-F Choir students Ave Van Til, Kendall Laven, Ruby Moxley, Kelly Parker and Jazmin Rhodes.
“They do all of their work and rehearse independently. They are all H-F Choir students, but I do not direct their group,” Choir Director Steve Sifner said.
The Six of Spades sang and played the keyboard, percussion shakers and an acoustic and electric guitar, rotating who played what instrument in between songs.
“I’m going to ask you guys to clap along when it feels right. And you’re going to know when it feels right,” Parker said before the Six of Spades performed their rendition of “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers.
“I don’t know whether to hug them like I’m their dad or to ask them for their autograph,” Superintendent Dr. Scott Wakeley said after the performance, adding that the talent they have at H-F is “truly great.”
while Miyako, a jazz ensemble that consists of H-F students, performs
in the background. (Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)
After Six of Spade’s performance, breakfast was served in the lobby outside of the Mall Auditorium. There were about 25 tables that could seat four people. Each table had a coffee mug, 4 coffee cups, coffee creamer, red-and-white plates, silverware and assorted Halloween candy.
The senior citizens were served lemon poppy seed muffins, strawberry carrot muffins and yogurt parfaits.
Christina Clark, a culinary instructor at H-F, said the muffins were made in her class. She said most of the students who cooked the food were “Advanced Culinary students with a few Culinary 1 students in the mix.”
Throughout the morning, students walked around asking if anyone at the table wanted juice or water bottles.
Miyako, a jazz ensemble, performed as the seniors enjoyed their breakfast. Miyako is made up of H-F students who met each other in band. They have Anna Arrivo on flute, Nicholas Butcher on alto saxophone, Phoebe Bosch on piano, Georgia Holt on bass and Joseph Robertson on the drum set.
“Music is something that’s always been important to me,” Bosch said. “It’s always fun to play for others.”
Butcher said they came up with the name Miyako after seeing it “in this Jazz book” on the pages for “a random song.” He said they later found out at that “Miyako” is a Japanese word that loosely translates to “beautiful child” and the name “just stuck.”
Shortly after Miyako’s performance ended, seniors were offered a tour of H-F High school by the student tour guides Avery Hutson and Sofia Leal. Some seniors attended the tour while others stayed at their table and enjoyed their breakfast.
The tour covered of most of the school but didn’t include the North Building because it was too far from the breakfast, Avery said.
The tour included different buildings, different hallways, the library, the nurse’s office, the cafeteria, the Orchestra room, the performing arts center, the ceramics, and sculpture room and many others. It included a wall of color photos of every single Class of 2022 graduate.
“I thought the tour guides were wonderful. They did a great job,” said Valerie Birk, a Flossmoor resident. “It was interesting to see what I still remembered from years ago — having graduated here 50 years ago. Some things did not change, and a lot did.”
