Students and parents from the Scotch Plains-Fanwood school district lined up at the cafeteria doors on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m., to get their tickets to SPF’s annual Pasta Night, organized by SPF’s music department. Once students and parents got their tickets, they entered the cafeteria to find tables lined with trays of pasta. 

In the front of the cafeteria, the North Avenue Band performed for the SPF community while they enjoyed their pasta. Students in Choir were able to sing as well, singing fan favorites such as “When We Were Young” by Adele.

Ms. Kelly Robertson, a Special Ed Teacher at SPFHS, organized this event, which had a phenomenal turnout, with parents and students from all over the district making an appearance. Robertson is also a former SPFHS alumni and is the current Music Booster Treasurer. 

All of the funds from this event were for the Music Boosters: an organization that benefits the SPF music department.

“I think it’s really great because it’s raising money for the music department. They especially need it because they have to fund all [of] those instruments and sending kids on competitions and things like that,” Senior Gia Ziekert said. “[The] music department does some awesome stuff. I think this is a really great way to celebrate that [and] bring everybody together.”

This was the first time this event has taken place since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Back when Robertson was a high school student, Pasta Night was something known as Quarter Dip, where students could purchase a single portion of pasta with a quarter. Since then, it’s evolved into a buffet-style Pasta Night, taking place annually until COVID hit.

“We wanted to make sure that all of the community felt welcome. It was a tremendous success,” Robertson said. “We fed over 350 people last night and raised money for the music boosters and in turn other music programs. We definitely want to try to incorporate other staff in next year’s event to see if we can make it even bigger.”