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NBCHS band instructor Jackie Kroczynski with the poinsettias from the Christmas fundraiser. (submitted photo/Jackie Kroczynski)
Music tour

North Battleford Comprehensive High School Band to perform in New York

Dec 5, 2023 | 4:04 PM

North Battleford Comprehensive High School Band hope to show off their skills when they head off to perform in New York City next year.

About 28 students from Grades 8 to 12 in the band are currently fundraising for their big trip next spring coming up March 14 to 18. Six chaperones will also attend with the students. The kids will stay in a New Jersey hotel and travel to Manhattan each day.

“It’s going to be crazy busy,” band instructor Jackie Kroczynski said. “Their schedules are full – all day. Everyone will be good and tired when we get home.”

The students have been selling Christmas poinsettias and wreaths to raise funds for the trip, and next plan to hold a bottle drive. Then, on Feb. 13, 2024 they will put on a Mardi Gras coffee house fundraiser at the high school.

Band instructor Jackie Kroczynski notes the youth will take part in three performances and a workshop during the trip. The final details are still being confirmed.

“I think that for lots of the kids, maybe they haven’t traveled a lot, the whole thing is just exciting,” she said. “While we’re there we’re going to the Birdland Jazz Club for a show and dinner. We’re going to a backstage tour at Radio City Music Hall. And we’re going to see a musical when we’re there [in New York]. It’s all kind of music and arts oriented. There will be tons to take in.”

With the trip to an entertainment capital like New York City Kroczynski hopes it might inspire students to possibly start to ponder a future career for themselves in music or the arts one day.

“I think that for them not only in our own performance, but also going to a jazz club, talking to someone at Radio City Music Hall that’s involved in the arts, and going to see a musical, these are all really good ways for students to say – I didn’t know you could do that for a job,” she said. “Of course, I want them to continue with music when they are done school. But this idea that the arts are a real and sustainable career, sometimes young people don’t know what the options are.”

The NBCHS Band is next performing at the Dekker Centre on Dec. 14, with John Paul II Collegiate High School Band and the North Battleford City Kinsmen Band, in an event called the Jingle Bell Jubilee.

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

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