Over spring break, many people went on trips to warm areas, including the DHS band which went to New Orleans from March 14-19.

The band had to get to school at 4 in the morning in order to leave by 6 on Friday, March 14. It then took approximately 19 hours for the band to reach New Orleans.

The band chose to go to New Orleans because of the warm weather and because the parents thought it would be the best choice.

While there, the band visited the World War II museum, took a Jean Lafitte swamp tour (of which students were given the opportunity to hold an alligator), Mardi Gras World, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and they saw Nicolas Cage’s future tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Senior Mackenzie Mathern’s favorite part was “the music and the live performers,” while band Director Matt Bradford thought “one of the highlights was listening to the Jazz band on the river boat cruise.”

Bradford believes that this band trip has helped the students learn more about Jazz and “to have fun with the music.”

“It’s not all about reading the music,” Bradford said.

Bradford’s favorite part of the trip was learning where Storyville was because it was the birthplace of jazz.

“That was cool because that was an added bonus,” Bradford said.

He also enjoyed seeing the street performers.

Overall, members of the band enjoyed the trip but there were some complaints that occurred. Mathern wished that the group would have used different buses, routes and drivers.

“We took the long way down there, and so we were already in Arkansas, and then we went up to Tennessee, and then we went down,” senior drum major Mackenzie Lancaster said.

“It’s just frustrating because there were different things that could have happen, like Duck Dynasty that we could have been able to go to,” Mathern said.

The band was supposed to visit the Duck Dynasty Warehouse, however, due to unforeseen bus troubles, they had to skip that portion of the trip.

“Everything that went wrong was stuff that I had no control over,” Bradford said.

However, Lancaster believes that the trip was “really awesome.”

“There were some bumps in the road, but it was still really good,” Lancaster said.

“Overall, I think it was definitely an experience that everyone won’t forget, “ Mathern said.