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The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Groundhog Day tradition enlivens math department

Wednesday morning, the halls of the math building rang with the voices of students chanting the phrase "G-R-O-U-N-D-H-O-G-G-Y" sung to the tune of "The Mickey Mouse Song."

Deanna Chute’s first period AB Calculus class was partaking in the annual math department tradition of performing the “Groundhog Day Song” to all math classes. The tradition, started by former Paly math teacher A.J. North over 20 years ago, involves the first period of AB Calculus that meets on Groundhog Day singing the above mentioned song to all Paly math classes.

Sleepy-eyed students and teachers were equally surprised and confused by the unexpected musical parade that entered each math class to sing the short Groundhog Day Song; most welcomed the performance.

“I enjoy little breaks like that,” math teacher Jeff Billing said. “The kids seem to enjoy it. But we didn’t get through the lesson plan, so their homework will be hard tonight.”

The tradition was generally well received, but some teachers and students worried that that it took too much time out of class.

“I was just doing homework when they [the singers] came in,” said senior Jonathan Qin, a member of Radu Toma’s BC Calculus class. “They [other students] were putting homework problems on the board, so I didn’t really pay attention to the singers.”

Toma’s only criticism was that the he had not received prior notice about the singing. “I think it’s pretty funny, but I wish I had known ahead of time,” Toma said. “My class has done it [the tradition] before, the students think it’s fun. I just would have appreciated knowing ahead of time.”

Chute was not aware that her class would be singing the Groundhog song until Wednesday morning when she arrived for work. “My first thought [when I found out] was, ‘I cannot believe my class has to do this,’” Chute said. “But the students had a great time; I would hate to have taken it away from them.”

“I taught AB Calc the past five years, and [my class] has had to sing four of the five years,” math teacher Misha Veryken said. “Chute’s class this year was the most enthusiastic group. The irony is that Ms. Chute doesn’t sing.”

“Mrs. Antink had to come in had help me [teach the class the song] because she knows I’m singing inept,” Chute said.

Along with visiting all math classes, Chute’s class chose to sing in Steve Foug’s U.S. History class, James Hanmer’s World Classics class, and Kenyon Scott’s A.P. Environmental Science class.

“I thought it was a spirited start to the morning,” senior Kayvan Farzaneh, a member of Scott’s first period class, said.

North, the tradition’s originator, believes Groundhog Day to be extremely pertinent to mathematics. "Groundhog Day was always an important holiday in the world of mathematics because it’s a probability thing,” North said.

According to North, the lyrics to the song came from the National Public Radio broadcast "Prairie Home Companion". “The song came from ‘Prairie Home Companion’ and my daughter recorded it when she was in girl scouts,” North said. “I thought, as long as we’re going to be cooped [up] in a math department, which we always were, we might as well sing it everywhere in the school.”

Suzanne Antink, current teacher and instructional supervisor in the math department, has upheld the tradition since North left Paly. “A.J. North taught here a long time, Antink said. "It [the tradition] was already going on when I got here and I’ve been here 20 years.”

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    Dee RemyJan 12, 2024 at 9:15 am

    Wonderful idea re the Groundhog song.
    I’ve been searching for the lyrics for “G-R-O-U-N-D-H-O-G-G-Y”
    Would the school and or teachers be willing to share them with me?
    I had them once but lost them in a move.

    Thanks very much.
    Dee Remy, a Groundhog fan for 40 years.

    Reply