Choraliers Plan to go on Trip to Italy

Photo by Lucy Morantz

Choir director Ken Foley is 99 percent sure there will be enough people signed up for the Choralier Choir to go on a 2017-2018 trip to Italy as of April 28.

Around 115 people have signed up for the trip – 10 short of the target-amount of 125. Foley is not worried that these numbers do not match because he knows a few people tend to sign up later.

“We always have people add on so I’m pretty confident it’s a go,” Foley said.

The Choraliers have already been to Italy in the past years, but Foley is still excited because every trip has a varying itinerary. He is especially excited to sing in a Mass at the Vatican. Foley sent in recordings of previous choirs so that the choir could be considered for this opportunity and were picked specifically to sing there.

“I’m going on the trip because it’s an amazing opportunity to spend time with friends and sing in beautiful places,” sophomore Iris Hyde said. “I’m excited because it will be my first time traveling out of the country.”

Raising money for this trip comes from one major fundraiser – raffle tickets for a five-day trip. The trip costs roughly $3,399 per person

“Our trip is a sort of a well oiled machine … companies donate a trip for five days that we can raffle off,” Foley said. “100 percent of that profit goes to each kid.”

This fundraiser starts in the summer and especially kicks in when schools starts again. During the fall concert, winners are drawn on stage for the trip of two.

“Our trips are something that I’m really proud of because our students represent our school so well,” Foley said. “We have a really good trust system that they are going to follow the rules … and we have a really good track record of that happening which allows us to do these cool things. Our students care enough that they want it to be for the choir.”