Dressed in festive hats and colorful headbands, sophomore Brady Beaver strums the ukulele as Spanish teacher Jennifer Dessert smiles in delight at the new community she leads. 

Dessert desired to explore and teach students the musical principles of the instrument. Prior to her time at Miege, Dessert taught ukulele to different age groups. 

“I had a ukulele orchestra in Lawrence, Kansas, with middle school and high school students for about three years and it was really fun,” Dessert said. “I’ve heard that there’s some kids at Miege that play the ukulele, and so I thought that they would have fun too.” 

Freshman Josephine Astor has not played the ukulele since fourth grade, but she joined the club to renew and expand her skills and hang out with friends. 

“I’m looking forward to having a fun time during flex time,” Astor said.

Beaver knows a few ukulele cords and was surprised that so many people were at the club. 

“I learned some chords by watching YouTube videos because I was curious a while ago so that’s how I know,” Beaver said.

Dessert plans on taking the club to the preschool at North Campus to play for them. The club also plans on hosting celebrations in the future. 

“I don’t have any food today, but we are going to have parties,” Dessert said. “I think the first party will be a beach party, and we’ll learn some ukulele songs for the beach party.” 

Another student who is part of the ukulele club is sophomore Tabatha Stockton. She has never played the ukulele before and is looking forward to getting out of her comfort zone.

“I’m excited just to try something new,” Stockton said. 

The ukulele club is just starting, and Dessert has many more plans and party themes to come. Dessert anticipates a stronger sense of connection and friendship among students.  

“I’m excited to build a community around that,” Dessert said. “I think it’d be great.”