Students and their families will get to watch Comic Hypnotist Frank Santos Jr. perform hypnosis at WA this Friday at 7:00 pm. Tickets bought in advance during lunch cost 10 dollars each and 15 dollars upon entrance. All the proceeds will go directly to the DECA club, the organizers of the event.

According to DECA club advisor John Rogers, DECA is self-funded, which makes this fundraiser especially important in terms of the money it will provide for a variety of expenses. These expenses mainly include conference travel and attendance, like the ICDC conference.

According to Santos, the show itself is volunteer-based, so anyone in the audience who wants to be hypnotized, high school age and older, will have the opportunity to be picked.

“Willing volunteers are the best [and] I don’t force anyone […]. I try to get someone who is paying attention and who is serious, not someone giggling or nervous, [otherwise] it won’t work,” Santos said.

Hypnosis, according to Santos, is when you are consciously focusing on something and allowing yourself to relax. It is also meant to be an enjoyable experience.

“Hypnosis is a fancy word for relaxation, it’s not a trance, it’s not mind control, you can actually hypnotize yourself. There are no tricks involved,” Santos said. “I’m the person that guides you there, so you stay focused on me throughout the show.  It’s a fun, relaxing experience, and you will never do anything you don’t want to while being hypnotized.”

Santos is very experienced in his craft and has been performing hypnosis since 1995. He travels all across the country, having been in Las Vegas just recently, but now he is in Westford to perform at WA.

His shows are performed at high schools and middle schools alike, including WA. According to Rogers, he has performed for the DECA club every Spring since 2015, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic years.

“This particular fundraiser has been the most reliable and sustainable of all our fundraisers with sell-outs every year pre-COVID,” Rogers said. “In the past, DECA has sold […] a host of […] products [and] services, but none compare to our Comic Hypnotist show, which is great family entertainment and laugh out loud funny.” 

Santos hopes that with this show, students will not only raise a lot of money, which he loves to help out with, but also have a lot of fun.

“[My message to the audience is to] have fun and laugh. I love an audience that’s high energy, also one that likes to volunteer. Westford Academy always reaches these marks,” Santos said.