The orchestra had an exciting end to a great school year.

On Sat., May 23 the orchestra attended the Music in the Parks Competition at Perkins High School.

The middle school orchestra previously attended the competition, but this was the first year that the high school went.

Music in the Parks is a month long event at Cedar Point and has competitors from several states where bands, choirs and string orchestras compete.

The competition has two classes, class A and class AA at the middle school and high school levels. Class A consists of schools which have 700 or less students and Class AA has more than 700.

The Directors pick two songs which demonstrates the groups’ strengths. One song typically has a faster tempo than the other. The high school director, Sarah Behal, chose “Declarations” and “Odessa” for the orchestra.

After the orchestra performed at Perkins High School they went to Cedar Point for the rest of the day. At Cedar Point, the orchestra attended an awards ceremony. The orchestra received first place with a superior rating in class AA. The orchestra also received the overall trophy for the string orchestras at the event. The overall trophy means they were the best scoring orchestra of the day.

Earlier in the year, the orchestra attending the state contest received a superior rating. That was the first superior at a state contest in five years. This school year, the orchestra received two superior ratings. The orchestra is looking forward to continuing working to better the performance of the group and receive more superior ratings at competitions.