By: Annie Bonner/Content Editor
Every other year, the band and chorus head down to Orlando, Florida to showcase their musical talents and of course, have fun.
For the last two years, students in the band and chorus have been fundraising to raise money for their trip. After countless fundraisers, students were wheels up on the runway, headed for the sunshine on the Florida Peninsula.
This year, the trip was from April 9th to April 13th. On the morning of April 9th, approximately 70 students and 10 chaperones got up early to board the buses to the Allentown airport. After the flight down, everyone got off the plane, back onto buses, and headed for cocoa beach. When everyone got to cocoa beach, they had a barbecue lunch and then enjoyed their time on the beach.
On the second day, the chorus was scheduled to perform at Universal Studios. They departed in the morning to go sing, while the band headed directly into the park for their first day of fun. After their performance in Universal, the chorus went back to the hotel to change, then headed back to the park to meet up with the band. All day, the groups spent their time enjoying the warm weather and rides.
The day that the groups were supposed to have a stress free day at Volcano Bay water park went a little less than smooth. While everyone was at the park, Mr. LoRusso informed the students that one of the chaperones truck, along with the trailer and all the bands instruments had been stolen overnight. While this was a huge setback and disappointment to everyone, the chaperones knew that they needed to remain cool and collected for the students. The band was supposed to have a clinic and perform at UCF on Friday, but unfortunately, due to the circumstances, that couldn’t happen. This upset many of the band students, including sophomore, Cassidy Howe, who lost a $2600 flute of her own.
“I was disappointed because it was going to be a new experience to work with college level students and professors,” said Howe.
Sophomore, Connor Mills lost his school owned saxophone on the trip.
According to Mills, “The trip as a whole was fantastic, it’s just really unfortunate that one thing had to overshadow the amazing trip.”
Though this event shook everyone on the trip, on Friday the group had their final day in Florida. From morning until night, everyone enjoyed time in Universal studios, riding rides, purchasing mementos, making memories, and soaking up the last day of the Florida sun.
The 2019 music department’s Florida trip will certainly be one to remember.
