OU choir students take on New York City

The Ottawa University choir took a six day trip to New York last week.

The choir performed at Carnegie Hall, one of the most famous concert halls in the world. For many of the students, this was their first time traveling to New York.

Sophomore Quinton Flaming is one of those students. He was most excited about their performance at Carnegie Hall.

"It's a great opportunity that I'll remember ¬¬for the rest of my life," he said.

Freshman Ray Thomas also went on the trip. Thomas said it is an intriguing experience for a first year student. He said it is an honor to be able to sing at Carnegie Hall.

"To sing at Carnegie Hall is like an accomplishment in life that I didn't imagine," he said.

Thomas said he embraced this once in a lifetime experience.

"I hope to get to know the place better for when I visit next," he said.

Junior, Dively Zarate also attended the trip to New York. This was her first time going, and while she was most looking forward to singing at Carnegie Hall and saw the opportunity as an honor, she was also excited about visiting other sites New York had to offer.

"We had free time to go site seeing," Zarate said. "I was excited to see just New York in general."

Some of the sites Zarate was excited to see were Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, where the students also had the chance to perform.

To be able to go to New York, the choir students have been involved in fundraising.

During the start of the KU basketball season the students went to KU's games and worked the concession stands.

The choir got a percentage of the money they made at the games.

They will continue to work the basketball games for the rest of the season.

"It gets us out there and it'll make it easier for us in the future to do fundraising because they'll already know us," Flaming said.

The choir also received funding from alumni and Student Senate.