Warrior band and choir heading to Europe

Every year, the pep band makes a road trip to the Kenai Peninsula, but this year, costs and transportation issues didn't allow it. So the jazz band is doing one better and heading to Europe.

The Wasilla High School Jazz Band and WHS Choir are heading to Paris to celebrate the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Both groups are playing at various functions and locations.

"We'll be performing at memorial sites and remembering the fallen patriots," Henry Pennington said. "The youth of America, and the rest of the world, died there that day."

Twenty-five students, mostly from Wasilla High School but with a few Colony students and one student from Heritage Christian School, are making the trip. Fourteen of those are jazz band participants who will also sing with the choir. Ten adults are going as well.

"The beauty of it is that we'll have 25 voices in the choir and a 14-person jazz band," Pennington said.

The choir was selected after performing in Carnegie Hall. A committee reviewed different schools, and WHS was extended an invitation. Then, the real work began.

"The kids have really been hard at work fund-raising, and it's been tough," Pennington said. "We've had a lot of really good people helping us and supporting the trip, though, and that's wonderful."