Traveling abroad is a rare opportunity for most high school students. With hectic schoolwork, daily commitments and no time for self-care, traveling is not even on the radar of many students. Nevertheless, a close-knit group of White Station choir students spent eight days during their summer roaming the streets of Germany, leaving all of their worries and responsibilities behind to seek adventure.

Seventeen students, seven parents, and three choir teachers—two from White Station High and one from White Station Middle—left Memphis, Tenn. and flew to Frankfurt, Germany in June of 2018. From there, the travelers had easy access to different cities and towns across Germany.

“We went to Heidelberg, Regensberg, Rothenburg, Nuremberg, Meissen and Munich because all of those places has places we could perform concerts at,” Joseph Powell, one of the White Station High choir teachers, said.

Each location had opportunities for the group to explore the various churches and cathedrals; it even allowed for them to sing and perform with students at a school in Meissen.

“We got to sing at a bunch of different cathedrals,” Matthew Watson (12) said. “We got to sing for an old folks’ home as well.”

Not only did the students get to sing and interact with German choir students, but they were also able to visit different historical locations and sights of Germany.

“We traveled to the location of the concentration camps, and I feel like I found out about a lot of things there that I had never known that are never in our school textbooks,” Karoline Larsen (11) said.  

The overall trip was successful in opening up the possibility for White Station choir students to  experience choir differently from what they are used to in America.

“I had never been out of the country before, and I like singing. I enjoy choir, so I thought, ‘Hey, why not go?’” Watson said.

A previous choir trip in 2016 took choir members to Ireland, and future plans might be in the works for a another international trip in the next upcoming years, possibly to Canada or Mexico.

The Germany trip was an opportunity for a new culture to be explored and understood, but it also was a way for choir students to expand their knowledge on singing in an ensemble and music in general.