Band director Bre Osbourn lets her nerd side shine while teaching and lets her love for Star Wars bleed into her lessons. That will be especially true on May 4, when she plans to have her band students sight-read “Star Wars” music for fun during rehearsal.
“It is the epitome of nerd holidays,” Osbourn said.
“Star Wars” Day is a fan-created holiday celebrated on May 4 (“May the ‘fourth’ be with you“). The unofficial holiday celebrates every aspect of Star Wars, from the movies, music, characters, books and much more.
“It’s a day where I can be proud to be utterly obsessed … and it’s just one of those feel-good days,” senior Dylan Kornegay said.
Usually, Dylan Kornegay enjoys doing little “Star Wars”-related projects with his friends as a way to have fun on the fourth and share the “Star Wars” experience with others.
Kornegay was first introduced to “Star Wars” by his parents at the impressionable age of 4. “Star Wars” was one of the first movies he saw, so it left a big impact on him. That is one of the reasons it still has such a big place in his heart.
Kornegay even has a “Star Wars” collection. He aims to collect 1,000 LEGO clone troopers. And last time he checked, he’s at around 960.
Osbourn has a few “Star Wars” trinkets at home, but she takes her fandom to a whole new level at her job.
Osbourn’s favorite part of the holiday is, naturally, the musical aspect. She likes the complexity and hidden meanings behind all the music and how well it weaves together with the writing and characters in the movies and TV shows.
“I’ve used Imperial March as a defense tune for marching band in the past,” Osbourn said. “The first marching show I ever wrote or designed was called The Idles of Space. And it was a mixture of ‘Star Wars’ and Star Trek and Close Encounters and E.T. So the color guard was dressed like Jedis, and I had lightsabers.”
Science teacher Glenn Taylor is a huge Star Wars fan, ever since the first movie came out in 1977, when he was around 5 years old. Taylor loves to celebrate Star Wars and also lets it seep into his teaching.
Taylor likes incorporating and referencing “Star Wars” in his teachings. In his aeroscience classes, the force from Star Wars is just the force of gravity. He is always looking for ways he can include “Star Wars” nomenclature in his classroom. His class is decorated with “Star Wars” figures on the cabinets, as well as walls filled with posters and drawings given to him by students.
Taylor remembers everything about the day he saw the first Star Wars movie, “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” He especially remembers what “Star Wars” brought to the screen in terms of visuals, how it changed the movie industry and the cultural effects it had.
“(‘Star Wars’) was just fun. I mean, I was a boy growing up … I still have my Star Wars action figure collection. I have probably 60 Star Wars action figures,” Taylor said. “I grew up playing with that stuff all the time. It grew my creativity.”
For junior Padme Polomsky, “Star Wars” Day lands right between her dad’s and grandpa’s birthdays, May 3 and 5. So to her, the fourth is a time for them to celebrate birthdays with some “Star Wars” activities woven in. They barbecue and watch “Star Wars” movies as a family.
“When I think of the fandom, I think of my dad,” Polomsky said. “I’ve never really gotten into it, I really should. I know it’s good, but I just haven’t. I’m just rebellious because it’s my name. “
With Polomsky’s dad being so invested in “Star Wars,” and her mom being so invested in the Lord of the Rings, they came to a compromise. Polomsky was named “Padme” after the “Star Wars” character, and her little sister was named “Marwen” after the Lord of the Rings character.
“My dad’s a big fan, if you couldn’t tell by the name,” Polomsky said. “He freaking loves it, obviously.”
Polomsky’s “Star Wars” collection consists of just a couple of vintage Barbie dolls. However, her collection is completely dwarfed by her dad’s, who has too many to list. He has a limited-edition Jabba the Hutt statue, dolls, an R2D2 phone case, a cardboard cutout of Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker and all the fast-food promotional cup toppers from 1991, just to name a few.
Both Taylor and Kornegay share the common sentiment that ever since Disney acquired Star Wars, the movies just aren’t what they used to be.
“I think Disney knows how to tell a good story and they bring a lot of money, so … they can take the audio-visual to the next level,” Taylor said. “It’s not the same. It’s not the Lucas version.”
Since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, they’ve released five movies. Disney has two upcoming “Star Wars” films – “The Mandalorian & Grogu” (releasing May 22, 2026) and “Star Wars: Starfighter” (releasing May 28, 2027).
“(The movies have) absolutely taken a hard nosedive,” Kornegay said. “‘Rogue One’ was the only undeniably good one (Disney) made. Now, I’m just honestly a little dreadful. Please don’t ruin ‘Star Wars’ further.”
