Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The choir at West High School in Salt Lake City was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall.
- The students spent all year fundraising for the trip to New York.
- Program director Andrea Hernandez is hoping the students take lifelong lessons away from the experience.
SALT LAKE CITY — After years of hard work, fundraising and dedication, West High School's choir students traveled to New York City this week to represent Utah on one of the most prestigious stages in the world: Carnegie Hall.
It's an extraordinary moment for the 31 students in the choir. Program Director Andrea Hernandez said it's a significant achievement that feels exciting and almost unbelievable.
"We have worked very, very hard ... It's taken two years to get on this road to get to New York," Hernandez said.
She said that the choir qualified after earning top scores at a competition in California two years ago.
"Two years ago, we entered ourselves into a competition in California, and we placed in the gold ranking, which is the highest ranking that we could (achieve) at that festival," Hernandez said. "We applied to the Carnegie Hall venue, and we were accepted."
Since then, the group rehearsed daily, pushing through a rigorous schedule to prepare for one of the biggest performances of their young lives.
"It's just been practice every day, go rehearse all the time, as much as we possibly can to get to where we are now," said senior Cece Budge.
During the performance at Carnegie Hall, West High will be the featured choir – performing three standout pieces, including 'Blackbird', a Beatles classic that has become a student favorite.
To do it, however, the New York destination came at a major cost — one that students weren't sure they could afford. From caroling in freezing temperatures to performing across the community, the students spent months fundraising to make the trip possible.
"During the winter, it was the trenches. We were out all the time. We were caroling all the time," said senior Divna Porter. "It was super cold, but it was super worth it because we ended up reaching our fundraising goal."
Hernandez said the students showed incredible determination and learned valuable lessons in the process.
"I hope they take away from this that the sky's the limit, that no matter what your background is," Hernandez said. "I just want them to know that if they dream big, they can get there. And you can do it with a little bit of hard work, and they have the ability inside of them."
Many students will be traveling across the country for the first time, and for some, it reinforces their dream of pursuing music after high school.
"I'm planning to go to the U.," Budge said. "I got accepted recently into the school of music. I'm hoping to go in (as) just a music major; vocal arts performance."
Others say the bond within this choir — built through hours of rehearsal and countless shared experiences — is what makes this journey special.
"I think there's just so much friendship in our choir, and it's a smaller group. So there's been a lot of time for those relationships to foster," Porter said. "It's a good group of people."
Hernandez said while the stage is legendary, the real reward is watching students discover what they are capable of.
"That's years of hard work," Hernandez said. "By the time they're at this level with the group that's able to go to Carnegie, I want to be able to walk away and know that they have a solid enough skill set and foundation and to figure out hard problems."
