JHS music students off to Virginia

Just a week after the Pannese Society of Rhode Island held a special send-off for four Johnston High School students who are visiting Italy for two weeks as part of the historic “Sister City Program,” another group of proud Panthers hit the road yesterday.

A total of 65 JHS music students, along with Director Ronald Lamoureux and his colleagues Oliver Reid and Matt Gingras along with other adult chaperons, boarded two motor coaches yesterday morning at approximately 5 a.m. for their long-awaited trip to Williamsburg, Virginia.

While the five-day trek will include some sight-seeing in historic and colonial Williamsburg, as well as dinner and dancing aboard the famed Spirit of Norfolk, the main reason behind the trip is to participate in the highly-acclaimed “Music in the Parks Festival” that’s held Virginia and other parts of the country.

“There will be about 20 school districts and community groups from around the country that have entered ensembles into this year’s competition,” said Lamoureux, who heads the JHS Music Department. “Our schedule will be very demanding, but one of our goals is always to see other groups perform.”

Lamoureux said that “we’ll be all business with getting the kids check in and ready to roll,” Lamoureux, Reid, Gingras and the adult volunteers held numerous fundraisers to pay for the trip to Virginia.

Once the JHS group, which includes the JHS Concert Band, Concert Chorus and Jazz Band, checks into their rooms at the Fort Magruder Hotel & Conference Center in Williamsburg, Lamoureux, Reid and Gingras – and other traveling officials – are scheduled to treat the Pride of Pantherland to a pizza party last night.

“We’ll have some rehearsals in the morning and then a few hours for the kids to take in the sites of Colonial Williamsburg,” said Lamoureux. “Thursday will also include the party aboard the Spirit of Norfolk.”

Tomorrow, Lamoureux said, “will be a long day of work. We’ll have competition in the afternoon at two separate locations and we probably won’t end the day and get back to the hotel until 11 o’clock at night.”

Lamoureux also explained that “Saturday the kids will be able to cut loose a bit in Busch Gardens in Williamsburg and the Music in the Parks Festival Awards Ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5 o’clock that afternoon.”

“I’m sure our kids will be on the edges of their seats awaiting the results of what will obviously be some high-powered competition,” the JHS bandleader said. “But Mr. Gingras and I expect them to be supportive of all the groups there; it’s always great to see how well the kids represent the school and town in the competition and every where we travel.”

Lamoureux, who has taken the department to great heights in recent years but continues to work towards excellence at the highest level, announced that “We’ll head home Sunday – hopefully with some awards – so the kids can get a bit of rest and be back in school Monday morning.”