HJHS students go stomping for trash

By CASSIE FEJERAN
Reporter

A spectacular performance by Hopwood Junior High School students took place at the Fiesta Hall of the Hafa Adai Beach Hotel Friday night, with the sound of sticks pounding on drum cans, water bottles, buckets and more, sweeping the audience off their feet in the first-ever production of “Stomp That Trash.”

The production began with a bang when four students, hanging by a rope with sticks in their hands, pounded on bright red car doors, hood, hot-caps and exhaust.

Marching out with brooms, four other students surrounded a drum can. Synchronized with the movements of the brooms, they stomped their foot, adding a thumping beat to the percussive rhythm filling the hall.

Following the broom performance were several students with a basketball, taking the stage and showing their skills with the ball.

At one point, the performers’ instructor, Ferdie Guinto, joined then on stage and played a part of the production, while students sat by the table that was set up on stage.

Amberlyn Del Rosario Mendiola then wowed the crowd when she whipped out her ukelele and sang a piece that she had written, Swing.

Mendiola wasn’t the only one with talent that night. Jonathan Koshiro was one of the many students that stormed the stage, breakdancing to a mixture of hip-hop songs. Koshiro did a great job, though he claims to have joined in at the last minute.

The crowd went wild as the students of HJHS performed to some outrageous dance moves center stage. And just when everyone thought that the talent portion was over, three students strutted onstage with microphones in hands and began beat boxing. Garrette Santos rapped to the beat coming from his two partners—Jude Olopai and Greg Arriola. Santos said that the lyrics were a Christian rap, while Olopai and Arriola said that they came up with the beat themselves.

The show ended with all the performers onstage beating onto the drumcans, water bottles, and buckets while Guinto introduced them one by one. The appreciative audience stood up to cheer the performers for an astonishing show.

Department of Public Works’ Enrique Dela Cruz ended the concert with a few words of advice to the public when picnicking by the beach.

“We want to make sure that the people take some responsibility for their trash. If they see any trash on the road, they should pick it up, and also around the picnic area, I think they should bring a plastic bag to clean up after themselves,” said Dela Cruz.

The concert was organized to push for recycling.