Mike Wolanin | The Republic The band S.O.S performs at CSA Fodrea’s Rock Your School event for CSA New Tech’s Lyrics as Literature class in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
A band made up of students from CSA New Tech High School recently helped CSA Fodrea Elementary celebrate students and teachers with some old-time rock and roll.
The group, S.O.S, played a concert at the elementary school on Sept. 29 as part of Fodrea’s “Rock Your School” festivities.
Rock Your School is an annual initiative created by Get Your Teach On. The organization specializes in professional development and encouragement for educators through conferences, workshops and events.
“CSA Fodrea has been chosen as a Get Your Teach On (GYTO) collaboration site through the Indiana Department of Education for this school year,” said Fodrea Principal Lyndsey Linneweber. “For us, Rock Your School day is a day to celebrate our teachers and students by doing things that are outside the box to make learning fun and engaging.”
In addition to the concert by S.O.S, which was for students grades 4-6, the school also had glow-in-the dark activities for students K-3.
According to CSA New Tech English teacher Joe Steele, S.O.S. is made up of New Tech students Henry Barr (bass), Taven Newby (guitar), Zander Taylor (drums), Lydia Marshall (vocals), Landon Nowak (keyboard) and Nolan Diebolt (guitar). Newby, Barr, Taylor and Nowak are all Fodrea alumni. The band’s set list for Rock Your School included covers of “Seven Nation Army” and “We Will Rock You,” as well as an original called “Hot and Heavy.”
Linneweber reached out to CSA New Tech about having the band play at Rock Your School after seeing a video of them on social media and recognizing the familiar faces of Fodrea alumni. The clip had been posted on CSA New Tech’s Facebook page and was from open mic event hosted by Steele’s “Lyrics as Literature” class.
The class is a new elective that came about because there were several students at CSA New Tech who needed another course to take, Steele said.
“The administration approached me and said, ‘It’s an elective. It’s going to be an arts credit, not English, so you don’t have to be as rigorous as your other electives when it comes to reading and writing. It can be more expressive. Do you have anything you’re passionate about you can design a course around?’” he recalled. “And I love music. I’ve always loved studying lyrics as if it was poetry.”
When he proposed the idea to students, it so happened that there were six or seven freshmen who were in a band together and needed a course. Nearly every member of S.O.S. joined Lyrics as Literature, and they convinced their friends to enroll as well.
Altogether, there are 12 students in the class, which Steele described it as “an absolute blast.”
In addition to analyzing lyrics as poetry, he’s also sought to get students involved in the same kind of real-world projects they would see people work on in the music industry.
“One easy, low-hanging fruit is for the students in my class to organize an open mic,” Steele said. “And I used to run an open mic at Common Grounds coffee shop in The Commons, when my wife and mother-in-law owned it. And I’ve always had a passion for creating a stage for people to express themselves. And so I challenged the kids, saying, ‘Hey, we need an open mic. You guys are the ones to organize it.’”
For students, this meant learning how to use the school’s sound system, creating a Google Form for people who wanted to perform, making event posters, and delivering announcements via video and audio.
According to Steele, aside from monthly “Open Mic Lunch,” other projects planned for the class include working with local musicians on promotional materials for social media and hosting a lip sync contest. He added that S.O.S. wants to host a concert of their own, and he hopes this becomes a reality.
While he and the school may have created the course on a whim, Steele said that it’s already gotten a lot of attention, not only from Fodrea but also from local radio station QMIX 107.3 sharing the open mic video clip.
“Just the magic of this class has already started to spread,” he said. “These kids, who are just in a garage band, have already been recognized and seen the power of social media. And now they’re getting another gig to play at Fodrea. So I just love the way it kind of has naturally grown, and the kids are loving this class and also just kind of loving the limelight.”
