The task I was given was that I had to serenade an under-appreciated worker with homemade instruments. I immediately chose “The KIVO Man”, a man who oversees the Kosher International Vegan and Organic section of the dining hall of the camp I have been going to for four years (Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, AKA CTY). This was the third and final week of the second session of the camp, meaning that it was his sixth week dealing with teenagers away from home and helping to create a safe and accepting environment for all campers (not to mention serving the best food in the whole dining hall). I spent an entire day (during breaks in class and during activities) making the homemade instruments seen here, which are:
1) six string tissue box guitar
2) one string tissue box plucker thing
3) strawberry kiwi lemonade (SKL) bottle filled with Trix cereal
4) SKL bottle filled with ripped up bits of paper
5) box used as a drum that had something written on each side (CTY, KIVO, two hearts)
6) plates used as cymbals
5) plastic knives rubbed against plastic forks
We sang the chorus of “True Friend” by Hannah Montana (many people learned the song solely for this performance). Due to the stress of the KIVO Man’s job, he’s not a generally smiley person. You can see in the video, though, (and I had the joy of seeing it happen in person) that his face simply lights up when we start to sing.
Seeing as this was my final year at camp, I’m thrilled that I got the chance to thank someone so iconic in my CTY experience.
KIVO Man, if you’re out there, thanks for everything.
