The faint thump of bass grows louder in the hallway before the classroom door swings open. A portable speaker blares a throwback love song as a group of student council members burst inside, one clad in a blow-up costume, dancing dramatically. Heads snap up from laptops and notebooks, scanning the room to guess who the Valentine gram might be for. Amid the music and curious eyes, a small stuffed animal and handwritten note is handed off to its recipient.

Groups of student council members surprised classrooms during second and third period on Wednesday to deliver Valentine grams across the school.

“It’s really to encourage school spirit at a large scale,” sophomore class president Amisha Pandey said. “I think it has become a tradition to hear the music coursing through the hallway, and then you know that a Valentine gram is coming your way.”

Preparation for the event began weeks in advance, with student council members signing up to deliver the grams and handwriting the personalized notes during planned DENS in the library. The $5 grams were sold during lunch last week, allowing students to select a recipient and include a custom message.

“I went to both DENS to sign up to handwrite the notes,” sophomore student council member Robin Han said. “I’d say the work was distributed fairly. I know some of my friends were involved in selling the grams during the lunches too.”

The students who signed up made the deliveries in groups, with one student in charge of delivering the gram, another in charge of playing the music and the final one who wore the costume, including Han. There were four groups total delivering at different times.

“Honestly, at first it was a little bit embarrassing, because I felt everybody looking at me, but later on, I embraced it,” Han said. “It was more fun going into classrooms, especially with people I know in the classrooms or my friends. That was really great seeing their reactions and getting to high five or wave to them.”

A key part of the deliveries is the music, playing songs like “Hopelessly Devoted To You” by Olivia Newton-John and “Careless Whisper” by George Michael. Behind the scenes, the student council officers made a big playlist and invited other members as collaborators, ensuring that different niches of romantic music were played.

“I really like when a class is excited to hear the music and to receive the grams,” Pandey said. “It’s fun walking into the classroom and turning the music way up.”

Money earned from students buying the grams is used to cover the expenses of buying them in the first place. Around 150 grams were sold this year.

“A lot of people really enjoyed having us there, and there was a lot of dancing to the music as well,” Han said. “I don’t think there was a single group that was sad or low energy, in particular, to see us. Overall, we kept a very great positivity in the classrooms.”

Junior Sindhu Chidambaram received a gram, which included a unicorn on a keychain with a note attached from her sender. When she received it, she was in her varsity choir class.

“When they came in with the blow up costume and music, it was a good kind of embarrassing and so amazing,” Chidambaram said. “It also feels really good to receive a gram from someone because that means they really care. They played Baby by Justin Bieber which was just fun to vibe to because we were already singing in choir.”

Pandey said part of the appeal of the Valentine grams is the lighthearted embarrassment that comes with the surprise.

“Small actions of kindness are really important,” Pandey said. “Valentine’s is seen as a romantic celebration, but I think that the notion of being able to purchase Valentine grams for friends encourages platonic acts of kindness, and how you can do that to anyone. Someone that I’m not very close with bought me a gram and that was really nice of them to do because it makes me feel appreciated.”