Published Mar. 10, 2022
BY CLAIRE PETERSON
Four Carmel High School students involved in the California All State Choir will accompany high school and college students from across the United States to Hawaii from June 14 to 22 to perform as a member of the Honor Choir USA and explore the island of O’ahu.
“Even though we’re in a pandemic, this is a really great opportunity for these students,” CHS chorus teacher Tom Lehmkuhl says. “I’m excited for them to have this experience and be able to meet people from across the country who share their same talent and passion for music.”
CHS students will perform at locations across the island of O’ahu during the June choir trip. (courtesy of PIXABAY)
Sophomores Sophia Alexakos and Grayden Miller and juniors Jack Norman and Colin Dowse will perform at multiple locations around the island, including the USS Missouri Pearl Harbor memorial, malls and churches. Every time the Honor Choir hosts the trip, the performance locations are changed so that the students get to perform all around the island and experience different parts of O’ahu.
“I’m really excited,” Alexakos says. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’m really lucky to have been invited to go.”
Norman, Dowse and Miller share excitement about the trip as well.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Dowse says. “I’m looking forward to meeting the students from other schools and getting to perform with them. This is something not a lot of people get to experience so I’m really excited.”
This is the 19th consecutive year that the Honor Choir has held the Hawaii trip, but only the second year any students from CHS have been invited.
Outside of a $300 student fee, the trip is funded by Honor Choir USA, and parents and family members are invited to share the experience with their child.
