My old high school orchestra did very well in the large group contest for 1998 again scoring three superiors performing Copland's "Hoe Down" from the "Rodeo" suite, the final movement of Holst's "St. Paul" Suite, and Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" from the "Romeo and Juliet" suite. We also attained 3 superiors at the 1997 contest.

Our East Coast Trip during the spring break of 1997 did well, less the problems of running into a huge blizzard which sacked Massachusetts and the Boston area where we stayed for the first few days. New York had lovely weather and it was fun to be outside around Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty as well as Central Park. We played our best performance at the Sony Building too. If it weren't for the day-long bus rides the trip would have lasted forever, which would have been all right with me.

One of the biggest things I have not gone in-depth on on this site is about our orchestra's conductor/teacher. She has been conducting the Champlin Park High School orchestra every year it has been around. It has not been until 1996 that our orchestra was known as a reputable one in the state. The 1995-96 Concert Orchestra, of which I was not a part of, was one to contend with. A bunch that finally put Champlin Park in the books and shouted "here we are, at last where we should be." I have a great respect for the Concert Orchestra of 1995-96, as well as the musicians who played in it. As for the 1996-97 Concert Orchestra, we rocked even more than the previous one, and my senior year was all the better. But all of this fame is because of a dedicated conductor who, spending her time with students to help them, arranging private lessons for them (including mine), being patient (kind of) when deadlines are near, and just being a nice person, has still kept up a great program. For all that she has been through, which even in my limited aquaintance with her would be half of this page in writing, she still seems to finally pull through and make things work out lovely in the end. Every year we are put to the test right at the beginnning of school and we still manage to bring out a great performance. For it is not just a bunch of musicians playing, it is a group of musicians playing together, and how could that be if not for a conductor. So this little tribute is to Ms. B and her unwavering guidance of our orchestra.