On April 8, 89 students and parents left Warren Central High School for New York and the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Broadway. We strolled down Fifth Avenue in the heart of Manhattan, passed Rockefeller Center and NBC, Radio City Music Hall and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral with its 26-foot rose window and soaring Gothic spires as well as the Empire State Building.

The Festival Band Competition was the next morning. The band won the first place trophy and great comments from the adjudicators.

More sightseeing followed at the historic site of the World Trade Center, the Wall Street financial district and then onto the Staten Island Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We also visited Chinatown and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even the subway was a learning experience.

I cannot say enough about how well this trip was planned. The students were well-behaved and the parent-chaperones worked well together.

I have been on trips before this one, but I have to take my hat off to the directors of the Big Blue Band. Thanks to Mr. Alan Arendale, head director; and directors, Mrs. Melynn Arendale, Mr. Chad Austin, Mr. R. Andrew Bonner and Mr. Jason Alford. Also thanks to the travel agent, Travel Trek, who handled the trip, Mr. Dobson Bowdon, owner.

I know my grandsons and all who traveled to New York created many lifetime memories and we all learned much through travel and cultural exchange.

Hilda Y. White

Big Blue Band

Booster Parent

Vicksburg