The music programs, including band, choir, and orchestra, went to Six Flags in St. Louis for their competition at Herculaneum High School in Missouri on May 18th. The competition is for a yearly Festival in the Parks competition that Six Flags holds. After the competition, they went to the Old Glory Amphitheater for their awards ceremony. The competition is held to show off their hard and dedicated work. This experience also helps students get used to school trips, and allows students to see how other music programs are doing in different parts of the country.  

The students also got the opportunity to go to the Six Flags Park for a fun day. 8th grade choir student Olivia Zeyer said,“I’m excited for the rides, obviously, it will be fun, and then I will get to hang out with my friends for a whole day, which will be fun.” Zeyer thinks the least exciting part is the long trip. “I’m not excited for the bus ride, I mean, it’s a completely silent bus,” she said. Some students are excited about the Six Flags rides, but other students are anticipating other activities, like taking pictures. “I have an app called Hujii which is really good for photos,” said 8th grade orchestra student, Haiden Ronnebaum, “I love how they look and I am going to have a really cute hairdo.” 

Some students debated on whether they would do well at the competition or not. 8th grade band student, Olivia Martinez, said, “Probably, we have our songs, and they are pretty good,” Ronnebaum’s opinion differed, as she didn’t think any of them were ready, “No, I don’t think any of us are.” Ronnebaum also had thoughts on having to wake up earlier for the trip. “I don’t like needing to wake up earlier, depending on what time I need to wake up, I will probably just stay up all night because it’s easier.”

At the awards ceremony the 8th grade music programs all received “excellent” ratings. For individual division, band placed second, choir placed third and orchestra placed second. Washburn Rural Middle School was also awarded the “Espirit de Corps” Award. This award was voted on by the student and parent volunteers running the festival. They were told to vote for the school who had the overall best character (politeness, keeping the school clean, overall attitude, etc.) Washburn Rural was the school with the most students at the competition, with a total of 198 students.