By Kit Epstein ’17

Walking past room 2028 during Period 7 on Thursdays, one might expect to find a classroom full of students taking a test or finishing up some classwork.

Instead, you’ll hear English teacher Sam Goldberg rocking out on the ukulele with some of his freshman students, playing songs like “Oasis” by Wonderwall and “Hey Soul Sister” by Train.

“We jam out in there,” Goldberg said of the weekly ukulele meeting. “It’s nice for students to just play some music and not think about school for a little bit.”

Goldberg explained he began playing the ukulele his senior year of college. He laughed when he cited a “quarter-life crisis” and a desire to find an entryway into music as his reasoning for picking up the instrument. Since then, he’s  also picked up both the guitar and the piano.

“It’s a learning process, which is what I’m attracted to most,” he said.

Both Goldberg and his ukulele-playing students take time out of their daily routines to practice the songs played at every Thursday meeting.

“Some of our favorites to play are ‘Hummingbird’ by Miss E and ‘I Don’t Know My Name’ by Grace Vanderwaal,” Emma Rosen ’20 said.

Rosen taught herself how to play the ukulele in August of 2016 and hasn’t stopped since.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” she said. “The idea of playing during school was a joke at first, but now I look forward to it every week.”

Alongside Rosen, you can find Lily Wallace ’20, who also picked up the ukulele over the summer after watching Grace Vanderwaal perform on “America’s Got Talent.”

“I immediately bought a ukulele and started playing shortly after,” Wallace said.

Both Rosen and Wallace explained how playing the ukulele with Goldberg serves as a time to just relax between stressful classes.

“For now this is a fun and casual way to have fun during the school day, but recently I’ve seen a lot of kids play ukulele, so I wonder if a club will ever be introduced,” Wallace said.

Whether students are experts at playing the ukulele or have never touched an instrument, anyone is welcome in room 2028 on Thursdays. “I’ve always loved music,” Goldberg said with a smile. “It’s definitely paid off.”