“1, 2, 3, 4…” was the only warning that could be heard beyond a closed door before the Silvertones charged into classrooms in a melodic storm of pink and red on Feb. 12.

“It’s possibly the most hilarious time of the year,” sophomore Adeline Chichester-Constable said. “It’s kind of better than Christmas, in my opinion. It’s hysterical, there’s this surprise look on their face, and they’re like, ‘Oh no.’ And then some of them enjoy it, so you never know what exactly you’re going to get.”

During lunches from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, students were able to buy Singing Valentines for their peers. The form includes a section for specific soloist or song requests. The funds will go towards the Silvertones’ Austria trip during spring break.

“I was actually excited, because I’m a senior, and this was my first time getting one,” senior Lexi Benzing said. “It was definitely a little bit embarrassing, but I thought it was really fun.” 

The Silvertones interact with their recipients by sharing heart-shaped sunglasses and leaving behind notes like “x = <3” — which they did on math teacher Mrs. Beth Benzing’s board during her fourth block AP Statistics class.

“My favorite part was probably watching my friend get her Singing Valentine that I bought for her….my actual favorite part was them coming into class,” Lexi Benzing said. “We get to skip class for a couple of minutes.”

The Silvertones have been preparing for this day since the first day of school. Once the requests are put in, they have a comprehensive schedule that juniors Madeline Garson and Delaney O’ Reilly coordinated. The schedule was directed by Garson for the sopranos and altos and junior Brendan Hogg for the basses and tenors. 

In total, 125 Singing Valentines were scheduled throughout the day for the basses and tenors and 127 for the sopranos and altos. Sometimes, the Silvertones would sing to people in the hallway who weren’t on the schedule, like instructional support staff member Ms. Patricia White.

“I’ve only done this twice, but both years have been so incredible. It’s really exhausting by the end of the day, and we start to lose our energy — or I start to lose my energy, I should say,” Chichester-Constable said. “It’s just incredible to build such a community with people, both years.”

Each year, they work to improve their process, from the songs they choose to how they plan the schedule.

“I think this year was very, very smooth,” Hogg said. “Usually in other years we’ve missed a lot of Valentines. But aside from a couple teachers who we mistook for wanting Valentines, we got everyone we needed to and we got them done, really, in a timely manner.”

According to Constable and Hogg, it’s easy to feel tired from running up and down the halls, as well as singing the whole time, after the first couple of blocks. If you were walking down the hallway that day, you could see clusters of water bottles left in their wake, tipped over in a rush.

“Drink a lot of water, cough drops,” Hogg said. “When you’re singing all day, you just got to remember to get your Valentines done and take breaks — the breaks are really helpful.”

This story was originally published on Panther Press on February 20, 2026.