Students that roam the hallways here are filled with talent and orchestra has taken it to another level. Over the past school year, Chamber orchestra, as well as a handful of students from Symphonic orchestra, have been preparing to perform at the well-known Carnegie Hall. From April 1 through April 5, students from orchestra will be walking the streets of New York City.

Not all schools are lucky enough to get the opportunity to travel to such an extravagant city and perform on quite a popular stage.

“We send in a video of our group performing to the people in charge of these trips,” Dr. Alex Zheng, orchestra instructor, explained about the qualifications on attending Carnegie Hall, “they then email us explaining whether or not we can perform in front of them.” Plans for their trip to New York include playing in front of multiple judges to achieve certain awards, seeing the critically acclaimed musical Les Miserables, and visiting the Statue of Liberty.

Orchestra member, Samantha Christensson, shared her plans for New York. “I am going sightseeing and exploring the city for the first time!”

The orchestra group has spent the entirety of the school year fundraising for this trip. For example, they held an event selling Jamba Juice coupons in order to raise money. In order to achieve the goal of attending Carnegie hall, orchestra did not go on a trip last year. This helped save hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to plan an extravagant trip.

“The school really wants to see us succeed. Teachers and families have helped us in so many ways,” expressed Serena Chang, orchestra member.

Orchestra has had the ability to attend multiple performances around the country. Two years ago (2012-2013) their trip took place in Anaheim, California. The group ended up with multiple superior awards for their performances. They have the same expectations for this years trip to New York City.