The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

singingvalentines

Members of the Glee Club serenade Penn President Amy Gutmann.

Credit: Courtesy of Glee Club

Students have a wide range of initial reactions when they receive singing valentines from the Glee Club but, after a few seconds, “you have to sit there awkwardly and let it happen,” College senior Daniel Carsello said.

It was Friday afternoon in the basement of the Platt Performing Arts Center and Glee Club members were bustling about between shifts delivering the group’s signature singing valentines. There, I met four members of the group to watch them deliver a few valentines across campus.

Our first stop was at a dance class in the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, where two women received singing valentines. The quartet decided to sing to the first woman, leave and come back in to surprise the second.

As we trekked to the David Rittenhouse Laboratory for the next valentine, I learned that the second woman to receive a valentine was the girlfriend of quartet member and Engineering junior Aaron Weinstein, who read us the text of the card he delivered along with the singing valentine.

“It’s kind of become a tradition to pick a theme and then write as many puns as we can to each other,” he explained. “So I think we’ve done vegetables and bread, and now this one was chocolate.” He read, “My heart cara-melts with you. I always say Her-shey’s mine. They may get cold, Butterfingers interlock perfectly with mine.” The Butterfingers pun was the group favorite.

Arriving at DRL, we interrupted a large introductory physics class. Soon after the quartet found the valentine recipient, students across the room pulled out their phones to record the song. Students usually try to record the spectacle in large lectures, Carsello said. “Everyone’s just ‘Ivy League Snap, right now!’”

Outside of DRL, we saw several tour groups gathered in the Engineering Quad. Parents and prospective students alike turned their heads to see the quartet sing “My Valentine” on Smith Walk. Most tour guides paused their speeches to join their groups in watching the spontaneous performance however, one determined guide remained focused on making sure his crowd knew all about the toast Zamboni at Franklin Field.

As we walked back toward the heart of campus, the quartet told me about some interesting deliveries earlier that day. In one class, a woman had purchased a valentine for a friend who sat next to her. When the quartet arrived to sing, the woman who had bought the valentine was on the phone and had just gotten into law school. Once she finished her call and the group congratulated her, they turned to her friend to perform their song.

“It was good because they were both really happy,” Carsello said.

Not everyone has such an exuberant reaction to being the center of attention in class. Quartet member and Wharton sophomore Sam Grisham said he delivered a valentine to a student who clearly fell into this category.

“All of his friends started pointing at him. Meanwhile, the dude who it’s for cowers in his seat,” he said.

Engineering freshman Julia DiSalvio — whose valentine I watched in DRL — had a similar response when I caught up with her later in the day.

“The singers were great, but I think my friend was just trying to embarrass me,” she said.

Comments powered by Disqus

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.