Students take New York by storm

Alexis Kowaleski

Edited by: Trisha Vankoughnett, Noah Shepardson

Shepherd High School Choir students sang their way to New York City while making their presence known at the city’s hot spots.

Students spent their Valentines weekend touring famous locations and taking notes from Phantom of the Opera star George Lee Andrews.

Starting their weekend long tour of New York, students attended Meet the Artist Program where they met Andrews and were able to not only hear about show business but also showed him what they were made of.

From the Apollo Theater to Carnegie Hall, students were given full tours of every performers dream venue. They even made a few stops to do some shopping in Times Square.

“The students were scared stiff walking around Harlem,” Kaye Peasley, the students choir teacher said.

One event that really touched the student’s hearts was when they visited Ground Zero. In 2002 the choir visited Ground Zero and left a stuffed bear in memory of Kara Spindler, a student of Shepherd High School who had died that school year. When the students visited this time they were happy to see that the bear that was left six years ago was still there.

"Our motto is to make a difference,” Peasley said.

The students took an inspirational trip to Ellis Island where they were able to look up family members that may have come through the island to get to America. On their ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty the students began to sing America the Beautiful together and as the song progressed other passengers chimed in as well.

“We performed at many venues,” Peasley said.