a club to come together

By Manuel Chi

At the start of the school year in 2021, Rey Rafanan, a junior student at Yerba Buena High School, was eager to create a club dedicated towards other fellow students with a passion for music.

Rey: “There was no music club in YB for over 2 years I believe, and it kinda sucks because music is a big activity at YB but there was no club for it. So yeah, it was August of 2021, I think it was… yeah it was August. I decided that yo, we need a music club, right? “

The 16-year-old Filipino student is living in San Jose and attending Yerba Buena High School, a diverse school with many different cultures and people. He picked up the guitar when he was just a little kid at a Las Vegas fair. Eventually, he dropped learning the guitar for a period of time, then proceeded to pick it back up and excel in playing it.

Rey, in his junior year of high school, felt as though it was time to form the Yerba Buena Music Club, a club fully devoted to uniting the musicians, future musicians, music lovers and those simply seeking a community to come together and consolidate.

The Music Club offers the opportunity to students who wish to learn an instrument to be taught by other senior musician students. These senior musician students consist of the cabinet members of the club and members with experience who volunteer themselves to teach. Rey describes the clubs’ influence and activities.

Rey: “I definitely see more people playing music around, especially the music room. Just how the biking club has influenced a considerable increase in the amount of bikers, like I see so many bike racks—I see so many bikes along the bike racks now. Like, same with the music club. I see lots of more musicians playing with their songs. Even outside of the music room, like, around the quad and everything”.

The creation of the Music Club also strengthened the bond between Rey and his bandmates in G Waggon, a local school band that Rey put together before creating the Music Club.

Rey: “There was a YB confession page. I decided to post on it, ‘Yo I need musicians to play music with me or jam out and perform and stuff.’ So, I literally DMed a bunch of people who responded in the comments and that's how G Waggon formed”.

Not only did the Music Club have an influence on the school, but G Waggon themselves played a role in making the school a brighter place. By performing at school events, G Waggon managed to get the band and the club much more recognized on campus.

Rey: “I have to say YB Warriors Got Talent. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. Like, when they announced our name for first place, oh my gosh, it was such a fun experience. Like the recognition we got after and our fans, and it couldn’t without the bandmates, obviously. It was just a huge sense of love and bonding between bandmates”.

Unfortunately, the relevance of the Music Club would soon be hindered by the effects of COVID-19, specifically, the omicron strand.

Weekly meetings, student lessons, and general communication between the members of the Music Club ceased, as gatherings were banned and more intense regulations were placed on the students to prevent the spread of the virus.

Although the pandemic severely setback the Music Club, Rey and other cabinet members say they have future plans to revive the Music Club and bring it back to a more active state.

Rey: “Until the COVID situation improves, we’ll try to reduce the amount of people meeting together in our room to, y'know, stay safe, but we do have…we did brainstorm some plans that we plan on, y’know, putting out soon. Hopefully this weekend”.

Until then, many await the return of the beloved club.

For The Warrior Times, I’m Manuel Chi.