It's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club ... class at Harper College
Students arrived in costume Monday for their English class at Harper College, well before any Halloween celebrations.
They came dressed as various members of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, for that day's unit specifically designed around the groundbreaking Beatles album and to help launch Sgt. Pepper Week at Harper.
Jonathan Lidsky, 18, of Arlington Heights wore Paul McCartney's famous aqua-colored military-styled uniform from the album cover, and it's one costume he cherishes.
"I love the Beatles, and to get to study them in school, sounded like a good combination," Lidsky said.
He is one of 54 students enrolled in the so-called "Beatles Class," co-taught by Greg Herriges and Kurt Hemmer, experts on the Fab Four. They teach the class as a Learning Communities class at Harper, meaning it is two classes combined as one. It combines English 102, a composition class with a literature base, and Literature 105, which studies poetry.
Previously, Herriges and Hemmer collaborated on a rock 'n' roll themed-class, but this year, with the release of the Beatles' remastered box sets of CDs and their new video game, they decided to center it on the Beatles.
To study the Grammy Award-winning album, Herriges and Hemmer brought in a pair of speakers who discussed how "Sgt. Pepper" has continued to influence pop culture since its release in 1967.
Fremd High School teacher Tony Romano read from his new novel, "Because the Sky is Blue," which uses the album to establish the 1960s era time element. Jeff Murphy, lead singer and songwriter of the 1980s band, SHOES, gave background from the recording of "Strawberry Fields" and how originally it was included in the album.
Despite the hip subject matter, the class demands a lot of work. Students have to read and analyze the Beatles' work, and submit a series of papers leading up to a full research paper.
"The class places their music into historical context for us," says Krissy Singer, 19, of Arlington Heights.
Likewise, Jason Natali, 25, of Crystal Lake, said he has enjoyed learning all the details that went into The Beatles music, including what inspired them and discerning meaning from their lyrics.
Sophomore Jessica McGinn, 19, of Arlington Heights, was surprised to discover the depth in Beatles' music.
"We're learning how they drew from different poems," McGinn says. "We're seeing some of the same themes, and even some of the same lines, from poems at the time."
Herriges has written about the Beatles professionally, and he felt their body of work offered enough material for a full class. Consequently, its units cover poetry and imagery, figurative language, speaker and tone, symbolism, sound and rhyme, and rhythm and meter.
"We are covering the Beatles and their works in a chronological sequence," Herriges says, "and this just happened to be that magical point in time, Sgt. Pepper."