Illinois Valley High School choir students got the experience of a lifetime earlier this year, singing the national anthem in Eugene to open up for a University of Oregon basketball game.
A dozen choir students attended the trip and sang in the stadium. IVHS band and choir teacher Emily Warren and IVHS principal Erik Lathen were also on the trip.
Warren said that the students were intimidated at the prospect of performing in front of thousands of people, but when the crucial time came, they kept their cool.
“There were clearly a lot of nerves, but when they got on the floor, they just reset and did it,” Warren said.
The experience was also special for the valley’s rural students, who live far away from anywhere that such major sporting events happen.
“The kids got to go on a fancy elevator to the ground floor, and sing into a bunch of mics, and then got to watch the whole game,” Warren said.
“Some kids said it was their favorite trip of the year,” she said.
Warren, 24, helped get the band and choir programs at both IVHS and Lorna Byrne Middle School back on their feet when she took over in 2023. At the time, LBMS didn’t even have a band or choir program anymore.
“We’ve done a lot of work to rebuild our program,” Warren said, “At the start, it was a lot of cleaning up instruments that were broken and getting kids new risers.”
“My first choir class had 5 students,” she said.
trip to Eugene on Jan. 8 with the IVHS choir class. (Photo courtesy of Robbie Konieczny)
Lathen, who helped organize the trip through a connection at UO, said that he was happy to be able to give the kids the opportunity to be at the game.
“I want our kids to experience as much as they can experience,” Lathen said, “Some have never been to a big-time basketball game.”
But the crowd reaction stood out to him.
“The cheer afterwards was kind of special. It was pretty loud,” he said. “The fans recognized the effort that the students put in, and the music program did a great job.”