It's known as the "happiest place on earth", but this spring, Disneyland will be the destination for a group of local singers. In tonight's Kids In Action, reporter Rick Carhart shows us how the Pleasant Valley High School A Capella Choir is working hard to raise money for the trip of a lifetime.
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It's a fairly common story for a many singers. These kids are still teenagers, but they have been living their passion for years.
A Capella choir member Chris Downham says, "I've been singing for so long, I just wanted to test it out. My freshman year I joined, two weeks later I loved it, been doing it ever since."
These kids train hard in class, but their work doesn't end when the bell rings. They need to raise $15,000 for their trip to a Southern California music festival in May.
Their choir director, Tamara Allspaugh says, "they're really working hard, harder than any group that I've had on going to Disneyland and being able to sing and compete and be judged with other choirs.
The choir members spend hours outside of class raising the money. First they sold raffle tickets for the Almond Bowl car giveaway...
Choir member Karissa Matlock says, "and then we did a car wash that was pretty successful and we're selling Woodstock's Pizza cards in the next couple weeks."
Chris says, "selling candy bars and all that...every little thing helps."
Choir member Dominique Jackson won't be going on the trip, but she's excited for her classmates.
Dominique says, "I know everybody's going to do great...everybody is so happy, they're already raising money and it's so far away."
The choir is also gaining experience by singing at community events and elementary schools.
Dominique says, "it's important for the kids and for us but now we know what it's like to perform in front of others."
And that's exactly what they'll be doing at the music festival, joining their voices in concert with hundreds of other high school singers.
Mrs. Allspaugh says, "it's a very good life experience for them to realize this is your goal, this is where you need to go, what steps do we need to do to get there."
Giving these kids a well-rounded education with important lessons that they wouldn't learn sitting at a desk. In Chico, I'm Rick Carhart for Action News.
