By: Isabella Kennedy

    The spring trip is the highlight of the year for many MRHS music students. This year, it was a five-day trip to Nashville, Tennessee. The students got to take a cruise on the Cumberland River, explore downtown Nashville, compete against other schools for the chance to win a trophy and maintain their years-long winning streak.

    The trip began bright and early Wednesday morning, April 15th, at 4:30 am. Eight buses were filled up and MRHS began the 13-hour journey to Nashville.

    They capped off their first night in Nashville with line dancing, before heading back to the hotel, where early alarms were set in preparation for the following day. Thursday, the first full day in the city, was the only day with no music performances. Students had the opportunity to explore downtown Nashville with their friends. 

  “They gave us about six hours to just walk around, so we looked at a ton of shops and got some food.” junior Aashna Sahu said.

    For Friday’s dinner, students boarded the General Jackson Showboat, which made its way down the Cumberland River as students ate and listened to music. 

    “[The boat] had singers who were really talented, and the food was pretty good too,” freshman Johanna Stalin commented. 

    This year, the performances were split into two days across three different venues. Each musical group performed at a different venue, which caused some stress as buses shuttled students from one location to another. The choirs performed at a church on Friday, with an audience of their fellow MRHS students. Students woke up early once more on Saturday, before heading out to the band and orchestra competitions. MRHS walked in with high expectations and fulfilled them easily, leaving students feeling confident about their performance.      

        Marriotts Ridge competed against eight other schools, including two from Maryland, a coincidence that hadn’t occurred in years. The music directors also had to evade a near-disaster before everyone returned home. During the awards ceremony, a band from one of the competing schools was wrongly given the first place award. 

    “Our [MRHS] band won, but due to a data entry error, the other band was awarded first place instead,” band director Mr. Ellis explained. 

    The problem was addressed after the ceremony, and the MRHS band was later assured of their first-place win. MRHS also won the Festival Sweepstakes award, marking the highest overall scores in band, orchestra, and choir. 

    The students had to make some sacrifices to attend the trip. As all of them missed three days of school, many have been assigned work to do in order to keep up with classes they missed. Missing classes could be a struggle, especially for AP students. With AP tests quickly approaching, many classes have had to keep working in order to keep up with exam review, leaving students on the trip with the task of relearning what they missed.

     “I’m still catching up on all my work,” Stalin said.

    Despite these challenges, students felt successful and glad they had gone. The trip ended when MRHS returned home around noon on Sunday, trophies and memories in tow. Another win for MRHS, leaving students already excited for next year’s trip.