Elana Sanders-Braxton and Parker Bata are two of the many high school students that help create the wonderful sound of the Lincoln College Preparatory Academy Orchestra.
For Sanders-Braxton music is therapeutic.
"It helps me release the things I can’t express coherently in words," Sanders-Braxton said. "If I’m really upset about something I can pick up my violin and play a tune and it comes out through my bow and fingers in a way I can’t say it with my mouth."
The Lincoln Prep orchestra is state renowned, and with your help they could be world renowned. They’ve been invited to perform in Seville, Spain in March 2018.
Music Director Jason Bata is tasked with getting them prepared.
"Seeing that proverbial light bulb in their head, all of a sudden it just clicks and you see the goose bumps on their arms," Bata said.
The trip can’t happen without help from the community. They need to string together nearly $3,000 per student.
"You get to share music you’ve worked really hard on with people an ocean away,” Parker Bata said, as he explained why this trip is so important to him.
His father and music director Jason Bata said this trip goes well beyond the music for Parker and all the students.
"This is not just a musical endeavor, this is to enrich their whole lives," Jason Bata said.
Watch the video below to learn more about what this means to the orchestra members. To donate, click here.