Rocklin High is known for its supreme academics and exceptional athletics. But at a majority of the football games the superb RHS Choir Students sing the national anthem and get to steal the spotlight from the athletes while they sing effortlessly and hit every note smoothly. After they perform the crowd applauds the singers and shifts their attention to the game.

Now the RHS Choir Students get the opportunity to show their talents out of the confines of Rocklin High. Seventy students departed Wednesday, April 22 to take the trip of a lifetime to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall and show off a year’s worth of hard work.

“We have lunch practices, weekend practices, after school rehearsals in addition to the time we spend in class rehearsing for this trip,” says Senior Monique Harris.

The students will sing six pieces of music at Carnegie Hall and will be judged. There is also an opportunity for students to sing a solo piece.

“We have a crazy busy schedule; if we’re not eating, we’re sightseeing, if we’re not sightseeing, we’re rehearsing. We have to get 70 students onto two flights to get us to New York at 3:45 a.m.” says Mr. Speiss.

The students will get to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, go to Times Square, Central Park, the National September 11 Memorial and many other New York City attractions on the trip as well.

This is not the first time RHS Choir has taken the trip to the Big Apple; in 2004 RHS Choir students performed in Carnegie Hall.

“This trip is 10 years in the making. After we went in 2004 we wanted to see if we could go 10 years later. We had 5 fundraisers and some people donated money as well as paying out of pocket to make the trip possible,” adds Mr. Speiss.

After all the hard work the students put in, they couldn’t be more excited to perform on the big stage.

“Its my senior year and I love Choir, it will be an amazing end to my senior year as a choir student at Rocklin High.” Says Anna Mcgovern.

“I’m excited to see things in a bigger perspective and perform for people with more appreciation for choir,” adds Danielle Weeks.