Selected seventh  and eighth  grade vocal students had the opportunity to go to the Southern Region American Choral  Directors Association conference in Louisville, Kentucky in February and experienced performing and sharing their musical talents in front of an audience. This trip offered a glimpse into the world of performing arts, where students benefited from many learning experiences.

“It was our first time ever singing six full songs back to back. The program was a lot longer than we usually perform. It was singing for the best and top chorus directors from this other region of the United States,”  Carrie Leahy, music teacher said. “It was a big honor for us to be invited to sing. It was also very beneficial knowing that we sang at that level for the conference.”

Students have also felt that this trip has contributed to their understanding of performing and also the value of working hard.

“I learned that hard work does pay off and that it is important to always be on time and prepared,”  said Anaya Leger, seventh grade vocal major.

 Vocal teachers Carrie Leahy and Jorge Valls contributed a lot of time in class to prepare the chorale students for their vocal performance on the trip.

 “Our preparation starts at the beginning of the year because we found out in the summer that we made it to this conference,” Leahy said. “The level of music that we picked, we knew ahead of time that we would have to build up that stamina to sing really challenging music. ”

It was important for students to perform exceptionally well, reaching their peak, and in order to do that, they needed to have strong dedication. 

“ We worked really hard together, and just the dedication that it took and sacrifices that we made to get to this level and to perform that music was really beneficial, ” said  Leahy. 

Every single day we worked hard. Even in my other classes, we still worked on that music.

We also had an after  school rehearsal to get our music together and it really came together well,” said Amelia Oliver, eighth grade vocal major.

The students in Chorale took the experience of traveling to Louisville, Kentucky in a beneficial way and used it as a way to shed light on the profound impact of music in their  lives.

“The trip made me have an appreciation for music more,” Oliver said. “ You can see how music can touch people and [that] many people are into music and what we love to do.”