New Meaning for a Snow Day
When Roger Day heard about grade school students being stranded in their school buildings overnight during last week’s snowstorm that crippled parts of Georgia and Alabama, he decided to help—by singing to the kids.
Day, of Washington and Lee’s Class of 1985, is an award-winning musician and performer who specializes in music for kids and plays concerts in schools around the country. Alumni of that era remember him as half of the popular duo, Heinsohn and Day. We last blogged about Roger’s work in August when his latest project, “Marsh Mud Madness,” was gaining prominence.
As he watched the news reports of stranded school children from his home outside Nashville, Roger began reaching out through his Facebook page and volunteering to provide concerts to keep the kids busy.
According to a story on Al.com, Roger first checked in with his niece, a middle school teacher: “I said jokingly to my niece, ‘Do y’all need any songs?'”
So Roger settled in front of his computer to provide “Skype-certs” for students from three different schools in the Birmingham area.
You can still see the way it evolved by going to Roger’s Facebook page, where you can also read some of the reactions from parents and teachers. One wrote this about the “Skype-certs”: “I’m going to remember this the next time I’m lamenting about how technology is ruining my kids’ childhood.”
Even Roger was taken aback by the way social media works when he got a message from his son, Thomas, a junior at W&L, who saw his father trending on Reddit. That, in turn, led Roger to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. By last Friday, Roger was still doing media interviews about the “Skype-certs.” Here’s one from Birmingham public radio station, WBHM.
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