On Saturday, May 20, Ukulele Club performed at Art in the Park, a community event hosted by Los Altos Rotary Club. Members played songs such as “Riptide” by Vance Joy and “Lava” from the eponymous Pixar short.

The performance is the club’s second this year, following their debut at the Diversity Assembly.

“The opportunity [to perform at Art in the Park] sort of presented itself because Robyn got an email from the Rotary Club and they basically invited us to come,” Tompkins said. “The club [was] excited about an opportunity to play somewhere.”

Since the club’s creation last year under English teacher Elizabeth Tompkins, it has expanded to include players of all experience levels. While most students in the club had played ukulele since the beginning of the school year or longer, many hadn’t played in front of the public prior to the Art in the Park performance. Students expressed both nervousness and excitement to showcase their skills and promote the club leading up to the event.

“I think there are some nerves and also excitement,” Tompkins said before the performance. “We’re all meeting [at Los Altos] to play on the way and psych ourselves up a little bit. I think everyone’s excited.”

For Robyn, the performance was a positive experience, as club members overcame nervousness to play in front of the public.

“The event was a great opportunity for us as a club to participate in an event related to the community and perform as a group,” Robyn said in an email. “It was good for us to plan and organize our part of the event as well as overcome the fear of performing for community members/people we might not know. All of us performed on stage, [and] we even had some few solos/duets.”

Ukulele Club meets on Mondays at lunch in room 403.