Friday, June 7th, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School participated in the “Music In The Parks Music Festival” and won multiple awards, including the Esprit de Corps Award (kindness award), Symphonic Band: 1st place, and Orchestra: 1st place.
The day began at 5:00 a.m., where the participating students and staff gathered at the school to prepare to leave for the festival. After their departure at 5:30 a.m, the staff and students first arrived at another school to perform in front of the judges. Performing at the school was a memorable experience for the students, especially for Jayden Ngo, a 10th grader, who noted, “The band room and all the equipment they had was just so mesmerizing.”
After their performance, which was said to have taken around two and a half hours, the members of Cardozo headed to Dorney Park in Pennsylvania, where both students and staff were able to relax and have fun on different rides and games. Later that day, they had an awards ceremony where Cardozo was presented with three awards, a shocking and amazing memory for the students of their high school years. Ngo tells us, “Our reactions to receiving that many trophies is going to be a memory I’m never going to forget.”
The trip was made possible because of the combined efforts of all the music teachers. “A lot of the planning was done by Mr. Oberer and Mr. Stewart,” explained Mr. Goldman, a music teacher at Cardozo. “It’s a great opportunity for students and us teachers too.”
Mr. Oberer, known better by students as Mr. O, explained that he and Mr. Stewart had been familiarized with the company in charge of Music In The Parks during their time teaching music in middle schools.
“This year has been a very significant year for the program,” stated Mr. O, referring to both the countless opportunities the program had been presented with throughout the year, as well as the Symphonic Winds’ recent accomplishment of earning gold with distinction during the program’s participation at NYSSMA. “Us teachers can only do so much. At the end of the day, it’s the students who put in the work and accomplished all of this.”
Many students had fun at the amusement park and spent the day exploring the things in it. Although many had ended up tired, the teachers were extremely happy to see students from different parts of the music program come together for once. “All I did was close my eyes and yell at the top of my lungs, but overall, it was a fun experience,” stated Jodlyne Desiste, an 11th grader in Mr. Goldman’s chorus class.
There is no doubt that the music program has accomplished great things throughout the 2023-2024 school year. It is clear that it’s destined to continue growing, and has the potential to create more opportunities for students.
