7^th annual benefit concert fundraises through music

By Nisha Patel

On Thursday, March 28^th, a group of seven seniors who incorporated music into their QUEST service project hosted the 7^th annual Camaraderie concert in Irvington’s Valhalla theatre. Hezekiah Valdez, Bekky Shin, Angela Chen, Christian Setiawan, Gerard Diesta, Edwin-Yang Cabebe, and Eric Liu took charge of various components of the planning, and collaborated to organize the event. Between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., on the first evening of spring break, various groups from across Fremont participated in the show; current Irvington students made up the majority of performers, with the exception of Irvington alumni Darryl San Pedro and Mission San Jose High School’s Eamon Jahani. All proceeds went directly to the Fremont Education Foundation (FEF), which helps elementary schools within Fremont Unified School District fund after-school band and other arts programs.

The Jazz Club opened the show with Little Talks, incorporating a Jazz Club tradition of a “water break” during their performance. Other acts included senior Yooshin Kim’s Little Things, freshmen Srija Shrinivasan singing Titanium with Shayna Kapadia’s guitar accompaniment, as well as Lindsey Yuan and Christine Bach’s Bruno Mars medley. Sophomores Yoobin Kim and Uma Lakshiminarayan’s beautifully sang In Your Arms and Naier Wang performed Falling Rain, an original composition. Luis Domantay, Jeanine Yoo, and Stephanie Ortiz did the only dance number for the show, while Irvington’s acapella group “Sexy Pitches” performed Some Nights, with solos by all twelve seniors and beatbox accompaniment by Aviv Redlich.

Emcees Aditya Kumar and Matt Hong kept the night moving along with jokes and introductions of the upcoming acts. Seniors Christian Setiawan, Gabriel Block, and Brian Zucker closed the night with their band Detention Slips’ lively All the Small Things and Tighten Up. Overall, the show ended in a success with all the fundraised amounts and the audience members who started their spring breaks with an enjoyable musical concert.

The Fremont Education Foundation currently funds after-school band programs open to 4th through 6th graders at all elementary schools as well as teacher grants in support of innovative, quality classroom programs to increase student achievement in academics, creativity, leadership, critical thinking, and visual and performing arts. FEF also funds sports wear and equipment scholarships to encourage greater participation in co-curricular sports and cheerleading by providing financial assistance to students who wish to participate in school-sponsored sports and cheerleading programs but who need financial assistance to acquire necessary equipment and sportswear. According to Angela Chen, approximately $1,140 was raised alone through ticket sales.