Thursday, March 15, at 7 am, while the rest of the Westminster student body was sound asleep in their beds, members of WCA Concert Choir were on the road with a mission to bring their tunes to the city of Chicago.

“The Choir Trip is a great time to put together everything that we’ve learned. We take our songs and put them on stage multiple times, in front of different audiences. It gives us a chance to do what we want to do, to refine our music, and to perform,” said Allen Schwamb, Choir director.

“It was an awesome trip. It was fun to sing at all the different venues, and I really enjoyed all of the time that we spent around the city of Chicago going to places like Michigan Avenue, the Lyric Opera House, and seeing the Blue Man Group,” said Caleb Krumseig, sophomore.

The choir sang at a host of different venues, ranging from high schools, to retirements homes, a church service, and a musical clinic at Wheaton College. However, in addition to homing their own musical skills, the choir also enjoyed attending performances by the Blue Man Group and the Chicago Civic Opera.

“Every tour we do, we try to take our choir to an opera, or some kind of piece of ‘high culture.’ I really enjoy that because most of us have not been to an opera. Even though there are many orchestras and musicals in St. Louis, a lot of us don’t do that sort of thing. I really love seeing students react to this sort of thing and enjoy it, or at least appreciate it,“ said Schwamb.

However even with a very musically ambitious schedule to maintain, the choir found some time to hit up Michigan Avenue, and explore some other cultural hubs of downtown Chicago.

“Even though it was a school trip, we had a great balance of singing and free time to enjoy the highlights of the city with some friends,” said Avery Anderson, senior. On the Saturday of St. Patrick’s day, the concert choir took to the streets of downtown Chicago and enjoyed an afternoon of good food, shopping, and sight-seeing.

“It was a great experience. I had a great time hanging out with friends, as well as getting to know some people in my choir class that I did not know very well going into it. It was a great bonding experience, and it was good to share our music with kids from other schools, and see how they do music. Overall, I think it was a very good experience,” said Cole Norman, senior.