As the holiday season is upon us, many community members are getting in the holiday spirit and are spreading the holiday cheer in a fun way: music.
A wide variety of the Hampton Bays High School’s community are participating in events which are best described as caroling for a cause. Two such participants are the Assistant Principal, Mr. Morgan and Hampton Bays High School’s Tri-M Honor Society.
For the past five years, Mr. Morgan and his brother, John Morgan, have led Christmas caroling down Maryland Boulevard in honor of their late mother, Carol. The event is called, “Caroling for Carol.”
When asked about the exact details of how it started Mr. Morgan said, “My brother’s best friend put it together as a way to honor my mom. My mom passed away on November 16, 2020. So about a month after December 16, he told my brother he needed some help to move some furniture at his house. He’ll pick up my brother and lo and behold, when they made the turn onto Maryland, there was about, I don’t know, 30, 40 people, young and old, parents and kids and a lot of our friends and community members.”
This tradition has continued and grown every year, with last year having around 60 community members show up. The 2025 edition of the event took place on December 22 around 6 PM.
One student who attended, Austry Galicia said, “Caroling was one of the best nights of my life, it was so fun and I would love to go again next year.” Another student who attended, Clare Loesch said, “It was very fun hanging out with my friends.”
On top of using the caroling as a way to honor his mother, Mr. Morgan also views the caroling as a way to give back to the residents of Maryland Boulevard who contribute so much to the community during Halloween.
“I think the people of Maryland Boulevard during the Halloween season, put in a lot of effort and, you know, the donations that go into it, they do put in a lot of extra effort than some other neighborhoods. And I think it’s just a nice little way of giving back and saying, you know, we’re all neighbors here and it brings us all together.”
The other act of charitable caroling to highlight is that of the Tri-M Honor Society. The Tri-M honor society is a music honor society, so caroling is right on theme for them.
Members of the honor society went caroling at the Southampton Hospital on December 23.
When asked about the event, Tri-M Member Charlotte Summar said in previous years, “Caroling was so much fun and we got to make many people at the hospital smile. It was a great experience.”
Another Tri-M member, Sebastian Martinez said that his favorite part of the event is “bringing joy to people who have been struggling through the appreciation of music.” He also added that his favorite song for the carol is “Silent Night.”
From staff to students these events show that anyone can contribute to a cause they believe in. These are just a few acts which show that the holiday spirit has clearly come to Hampton Bays.
