What a busy and musical end of the school year it was! Thank you to all students for their hard work, parents and community for your support and bringing students to the many events, and the Hillsboro staff for their support and flexibility with all the events we have had in the past two months.
In April, we had our Large Ensemble and District Solo and Ensemble Festivals. Hillsboro had 124 band and choir events between middle school and high school. Of those, we had 13 band events and 17 choral events go on to State at Viterbo. The commitment and efforts by these students paid off and really made Hillsboro shine! Also, at the end of April, the Hillsboro MS and HS jazz bands attended the Eau Claire Jazz Festival, a nationally recognized festival that has bands from across the Midwest come to perform. Our students got to play for nationally recognized performers, including Alexa Tarantino and Tom Luer. Congratulations to Garrett Rafel (6th) and Ashton Beckwith (8th) for receiving a Soloist recognition certificate at this event!
As you have seen, May was a busy, busy month. Congratulations to all on their concert and recital performances, as well as the services they have provided for community events, performing at Memorial Day along with small group of students who performed for the Women’s Civic Club. Congratulations to all music seniors on their graduation, and thank you for your leadership this year in both ensembles.
On Monday, June 10th, we had our Band and Choir Trip to New York City. We rode the bus overnight on that Monday, arrived in the city on Tuesday the 11th. We got to see several fantastic musicals, Dear Evan Hansen and Aladdin, and the students got the choice to also see either Wicked or Mean Girls. We performed on Wednesday the 12th at a Veteran’s Memorial Home in New Jersey, and got to see many parts of the big city, including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, Central Park, participate in a Broadway workshop, and so much more!
Marching Band camp for the incoming HS band will be Tuesday, August 20th-Friday, August 23rd. Have a great summer!