The Lafayette High School Choir, under the direction of Kim Gregory of Bruce, visited New York City to sing at Carnegie Hall March 9 with the National Youth Choir, directed by Dr. Lynne Gackle.
“Dr. Gackle was my supervising teacher at Ole Miss when I student taught in Bruce,” Gregory said. “I haven’t seen her in 24 years and I am super excited. It feels like we’ve come full circle.”
The choir received the invitation to sing at Carnegie Hall after their performance at the Heritage Music Festival in Atlanta in the spring of 2012. All Lafayette groups that performed received a Gold rating, which is superior. Having rated Gold at the festival, they automatically qualified for the “Festival of Gold” at Carnegie Hall and were not required to audition. The choir had to raise $84,000 for the 33 students and 23 parents to make the 5 day trip to New York. They have been fundraising since April 2013 and raised all but $4,600 on their own, thanks to the generous donations of local businesses, churches and individuals.
“In addition to getting businesses to sponsor individuals, we had a BBQ dinner, an auction, sold tons of raffle tickets for a Landmaster side by side, a Remington shotgun and a Kroger gift card,” Gregory said. “We had car washes at the Kroger in Oxford and a fall festival at the school. It was a ton of work, but we did it.”
The Lafayette School Board voted to pay the remaining balance. The choir has been working diligently for the last two months on the music they will sing at Carnegie Hall.
“The music is tough but gorgeous. One of the most challenging pieces is in French but thankfully we found a pronunciation guide on-line and a teacher at LHS speaks French fluently so she was able to help as well,” Gregory said.
While in New York, the choir visited the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, saw “Motown: The Musical” on Broadway, visited the 9/11 Memorial and finally topped off their amazing trip by singing at Carnegie Hall on Sunday night, March 9.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these students. None of my students have been to New York and a third of them have never flown before,” Gregory said. “I’ve been to New York three times and I just can’t wait to watch them as they see all of these things for the first time. It’s one thing to see it in books and movies, but another when you see it in person.”
After 24 years of teaching in Mississippi public schools, Gregory plans to retire in the spring of 2015.
“I started my teaching career in Bruce, then I moved on to teach in Vicksburg, Forest, came back to Bruce and now I’ve been at LHS for nine years,” Gregory said. “I’ve taken kids on trips for many years. This is my second group to take to New York. What a better way to end my teaching career than by watching my kids sing at one of the most reknown venues in the world. It will be a night they will never forget and that’s what teaching is all about: providing life-changing moments that impact your students for the rest of their lives. Music has done that for me and I hope I’ve done that for them.”