In commemoration of Valentine’s day, students around BHS celebrated the holiday by sending barbershop quartets into various classes to sing to people of their choice.

The quartets were made possible through BHS’s chapter of the Illinois Music Honors Society. As members sold their visits at lunch a week prior to the day, students were able to choose between love or friendship for the experience at a price of $3 per serenade.

Two groups of quartets, composed of Belvidere choir students, serenaded selected students in classrooms throughout the day. 

“This idea actually came from alumni,” ILMHS president Jay Mabry said. “Before I was even a part of this club, they really showed interest in wanting to do something like this.”

ILMHS’s decision to go forward with the idea was based upon multiple things. Most importantly, members wanted to put the club on the map while growing closer bonds with each other.

“It was honestly a pretty great experience,” Mabry said. “For the club members especially, getting a chance to bond like that and a chance to be together was a really great experience.”

The quartets were separated into two groups so that they could maximize efficiency and make sure that the workload wasn’t too overwhelming.

“Mr. Miller gave both groups a master sheet of all our destinations,” Christian Rodriguez said. “It was divided equally between second, third, and sixth (period). We found classrooms near each other and found them as we went, since I was carrying our master sheet. Mainly, we’d have a rough route set up around when we started.”

While the quartet singers had a good time throughout the day, Rodriguez also stressed how he thought the quartets brightened the average student’s day as well.

“It was a lot of fun,” he started. “All of the classrooms enjoyed it. It made a lot of people happy to receive either a romantic or platonic song and flower.”

ILMHS, formally known as Tri-M, works to serve the community and school through music. According to the club’s president, Mabry, the result of this Valentine’s Day activity is that ILMHS has become more well-known around the school.

“This year, we really wanted this club to be known,” Mabry said. “Before, it was kind of like ‘what is Tri-M?’ and we would have to explain it every time.

“Doing events like this and really just being active within our community, is something I really wanted to do. It’s what our advisors Mr. Miller and Mr. Costabile wanted. Overall, I am having a really great time with the members we have. They’re all really, really, great, smart, and talented people.”

For more information on ILMHS, email Mark Miller at [email protected] or Jason Costabile at [email protected].