Overnight camp prepares variations for sold-out Singing Valentines

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Variation’s Singing Valentines were in high demand—they were sold out in less than three days.

The valentines were sold during lunch this week, and sold out mid-way through lunch on Wednesday. Variations capped sales at 300 serenades, because some of the 500 that were bought last year were not able to be delivered.

To prepare, Variations went to Santa Cruz, but they didn’t stretch their legs to go hiking—they stretched their vocal chords to sing. The two-day camp was mainly focused on the Singing Valentines, but also served as a fun bonding experience for the group.

“First thing when we got there, we ate dinner, and after dinner we just straight away went back to our cabins and we started working on our [Singing Valentines],” senior Victor Tran said. “We got our lyrics down, we got our harmonies down, then we started working on our choreography. Then at the end of night we went back, gathered together in this big room, and played some cool board games and just chilled.”

In addition, they tried out different types of arrangements to try to perfect their Singing Valentines.

“We had a piano, so we could come up with our own arrangements and how we were going to come up with different parts and harmonies, “ sophomore Saee Bhide said. “Then we performed for each other so we could critique each other.”

This year will be the first year a girl group will be beat boxing in one of their Singing Valentines. While the camp was to perfect their songs and choreography, the students were allowed to do a whole range of other activities.

“We were just hanging out,” junior Katerina Zorko said. “[We went] hiking and there was a tree house that we explored, just random stuff like basketball and beat boxing, magic tricks and then we [played] these bonding games called Red Rum.”

Cards for Singing Valentines were designed by winners of the “Art from the Heart” contest organized by ASB Leadership’s Student Recognition Commission. Junior Elise Chen designed the “I Love You” card, and senior Jee Soo Lee created the heart design.

Singing Valentines will take place on Feb. 14 throughout the day as 300 different students will be serenaded by the various groups of Variations.

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