MILTON — For 68 members of the Milton Area High School chorus, Saturday marks the end of incessant fund-raising and the beginning of an eight-day adventure to Florida’s Walt Disney World and Epcot Center.
The chorus will perform twice during a Christmas candlelight procession Dec. 3 at Epcot Center.
“We had to audition with Disney in early September,” chorus director Russ Wynn said. “They sent us the music and we had to learn it and perform on a DVD we sent back to them.”
Once the Milton group was accepted for the performances, it had learn 15 pieces. It will be in a mass performance of more than 200 students from a number of high schools.
“The Hallelujah Chorus was the hardest piece to do,” senior Brian Snyder said. “It takes a huge amount of energy to perform.”
Wynn has been working the students hard, rehearsing the repertoire from 11:45 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. daily.
“It’s a huge undertaking,” he said. “There was such a short time for us to learn these pieces.”
Wynn said he saw a Disney candlelight procession several years ago during a Thanksgiving visit to the Magic Kingdom with his family.
“I thought it would be cool if we could do that,” he said.
Soon after Wynn decided to take the chorus to Florida last year, the fund raising began.
“We sold everything, from wrapping paper and gift items to cookie dough, Aunt Annie’s pretzels, pizzas, pies and poinsettias,” he said. The total raised was more than $60,000, he said, to insure that every member of the chorus would have the opportunity to go.
This year, he completed the application and sent it to Disney, which then sent the audition materials.
The chorus members, plus eight chaperones, will leave Milton at 7 p.m. Saturday on two chartered buses. They will travel straight through to Orlando, arriving Nov. 29.
When they aren’t rehearsing or performing, the Milton students will take in the scenery and events.
“I want to meet Mickey,” senior Matt Ishman said.
Junior Kari Radke has already had that pleasure, she said, noting that she had met all the Disney characters on a previous trip.
“We’ll go swimming and have fun,” she said.
Most of the members of the chorus haven’t visited Orlando before, Wynn said.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “I hear them talking about what to take and what rides they want to go on.”
Wynn said the Milton group will stay in a motel in Kissimmee, a suburb of Orlando.
“I didn’t want to stay on the Disney campus, where the students would have access to Disney transportation around the clock,” he said. “I want to control that.”
The group will leave for Milton on Dec. 4, arriving home on the afternoon of Dec. 5.
The Milton chorus will perform most of the music it learned for the Disney trip at a public concert in the high school’s performing arts center at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 13.
News
Related Photos
Discussion
Chorus raises $60K for Disney World trip
- News
-
-
Firefighter union may char pacts
LEWISBURG — Paid members of the William Cameron Engine Company have voted to unionize under the International Association of Fire Fighters, a move believed to stem from internal tension between paid and volunteer members of the department, according to various sources.
-
M-W rule on drug testing is area’s boldest
MIDDLEBURG — Midd-West is the only school district in the Central Susquehanna Valley that requires students interested in participating in extra-curricular activities to agree to submit to random drug testing.
-
New shelter exec gets busy
When Cathy Teisher stepped down as executive director of Haven Ministries, in March, Pamela Steffen stepped up.
-
Tax boost could bring $120G pad
The Lewisburg Area School District will seek a 3.2 percent real estate tax increase for the 2012-13 school year, the maximum allowed under the index, under a proposed budget now available for public comment.
-
Fire has burned beneath Centralia for 50 years
CENTRALIA — Fifty years ago on Sunday, a fire at the town dump ignited an exposed coal seam, setting off a chain of events that eventually led to the demolition of nearly every building in Centralia — a whole community of 1,400 simply gone.
-
'To Do': Montandon Community Days
MONTANDON - Montandon Community Days will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 26 along Railroad Street.
-
California’s Coronado named nation’s best beach
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — Like a Hollywood star, Coronado’s 1.5 mile-long beach literally sparkles, thanks to the mineral mica glinting in its sand.
That’s one of the reasons why Coronado — flanked by the iconic hotel featured in Marilyn Monroe’s 1958 film “Some Like It Hot” — has been named the No. 1 beach in the United States in the 2012 survey by “Dr. Beach” professor Stephen P. Leatherman of Florida International University. -
Typical CEO made $9.6M last year, AP study finds
Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.
-
Barnstorming cattle badger citizens for beer
BOXFORD, Mass. (AP) — Police say a roving group of cows crashed a small gathering in a Massachusetts town and bullied the guests for their beer.
-
'A Day in Towne' tradition draws crowds to Boalsburg
May 25--For the 148th year, Boalsburg will be the gathering place for regional families to remember all ranks of Armed Forces veterans.
-
Fired Pa. president gets more time to clear office
CALIFORNIA, Pa. (AP) — A judge has canceled a hearing to determine whether California University of Pennsylvania president Angelo Armenti can remove his personal property from his former office, because state officials have given him more time to do so.
- Weird crime of the week: Peddler in pickup scams bargain-hunting meat seeker
- More News Headlines
-
Firefighter union may char pacts
