Every Saturday in the foyer of a run-down nursing home, several bright faces bring joy to an eccentric group of senior citizens. These bright faces belong to a volunteer organization started by three juniors, a group called Old School Band.

Kaitlynn Li, the founder of the group, started the band freshman year as a way for volunteering to mean more than showing up to do the job at hand.

“I had this idea of the power of presence,” Li said. “When people volunteer for places like Habitat for Humanity, they go, they build stuff, and they leave. What I didn’t want to do was make Old School Band focused on performing at nursing homes. I wanted to make it more interacting at nursing homes, combating depression and isolation a lot of people there have with youth.”

What started out as a couple of teenage girls performing for a nursing home soon grew into something much more. Kaitlynn Li, Sandra Tsang and Mylinh Tieu transformed Old School Band to include a wider ensemble of volunteers.

“It started out as a solid group but we realized we could get a lot more people involved,” Li said.

“Before, it was just singing and instruments but now we have dancers and artists and even people that just go and talk to them. Now it’s really not a band. It’s more of a band of people.”

Dancers, artists, singers and musicians alike are welcome to join the band. Approved by both National Honor Society (NHS) and Key Club, Old School Band is an outlet for teens to make a difference in the community.

“We want to make it open to anyone, so you don’t have to be a musician to volunteer with us,” junior and officer Mylinh Tieu said. “We find a way to involve everyone.”

Tsang, historian of the group, joined in on the group because of the contrast between average volunteering opportunities and Old School Band.

“In the past when we volunteered at nursing homes, we did a lot of manual labor,” Tsang said. “It was sad because we didn’t really get to talk to the residents.”

However, the nature of volunteering all changed with Old School Band.

“Once you go there you meet new people and over time you become friends with them and get to know their stories,” Tsang said. “It is really interesting because people assume that older people don’t have anything to offer. People forget that they were once youths as well.”

As a leader, Li has to encourage the friendly relationships with the elderly residents by giving it her all.

“A lot of people are scared to interact with the elderly,” Li said. “Sometimes when you talk to them you don’t know what they’re saying and it’s out of your comfort zone, so a lot of the things that I do as a leader is give 200% of my personality. I’ll be extra outgoing and extra happy so others feel more comfortable.”

Through the power of presence and the determination of the founders, Old School Band creates new bonds and relationships with senior citizens who would be confined to solitude otherwise.

“Volunteering should also focus on building connections and relationships with people,” Tsang said. “That’s the most important part of being involved in your community: bringing happiness to others, especially if they are isolated.”

Old School Band is an volunteer organization that is more than just one hour on a sheet for NHS. It is a group of people looking to make a difference and engage with senior citizens.
“A lot of people view volunteering hours as an hour they have to put in here or there to put on their college apps, but Old School Band isn’t so much about that,” Li said. “It’s more about showing up and giving the elderly a bright face to see.”