Starting this year, the new club, Songs for Smiles, will be performing to residents of senior living homes. The club’s co-chairs, Aanya Pandey ‘25, Catherine Lin ‘25, Petra Ekstrom ‘24, and Gabi Marmet ‘25 have created a space for students with interests in music to sing and play instruments. The club has met once and will continue to meet once or twice a month on Fridays during Flex. When they meet, they plan out their performances for upcoming events. Pandey explained, “Right now, we hope to get everyone to know each other and figure out what kind of performances people might want to do and try and get into contact with a bunch of senior living homes.” 

As the club establishes a foundation, Pandey hopes to expand the club to other facilities besides senior living homes. “This year, we’re just trying to do as many performances as possible and if those are successful, we might try to perform at hospitals, too.” Pandey said, “This year, we’re just trying to do as many performances as possible and if those are successful, we might try to perform at hospitals, too. Maybe Northeast Memorial Health or something. I think we’re just trying to get established as a club and try to perform as much as possible. 

Ekstrom reflected, “I feel like everyone who has joined the group loves music and loves their instrument so I think it will be really rewarding to share that with other people and afterwards just get to interact with the people in our community who we don’t usually get to and put a smile on their faces, you know, Songs for Smiles.”

On Sunday Nov. 26, the club  performed at Elder Homestead in Minnetonka. All four leaders were there with other club members. The group had performances that included piano playing, ukulele, guitar, and guitar. For certain songs the members encouraged the seniors at the home to sing along and channel their inner winter and holiday spirit.