Q. What was your first reaction to the price of the trip?

R.B.- “I’m going on another trip later this year, so I was already fundraising for one trip. So I knew that fundraising for another trip would be pretty hard. So when I looked at the price I was like yeet away from that. No thank you. I was gonna try to fund-raise, actually I did try but it just didn’t work out too well.”

Q. Do you think $725 was worth everywhere Mr. Smith said the choir was going to go?

R.B.- “Well, I didn’t go on the trip. But watching everyone have so much fun, it seemed like it was almost worth it. I mean it depends on what your financial income is. If to you, $725 isn’t a lot or isn’t too much, then I say good for you then, it was worth it. But for somebody who would have spent their entire income for the month on that trip. Or would have had to skip getting groceries for the week, I would have to say it’s not worth it.”

Q. Do you wish there was a way you could have went on the trip or is there somewhere we went you wish you could have experienced?

R.B.- “I wish I could have gone cause the choir looked like they had a really good time. I wanna have that bonding experience with my choir and I had to miss out on that. So I mean, I would have loved to have gone and if I had a way to. If I did have enough money and enough fundraising opportunities I think I would have gone. There was only one fundraising opportunity provided by the conductor, which is fine cause he did what he had to do. I also think that kids without direction or any experienced fundraising wouldn’t have known how how to fund raise for that. I mean he said we could have bake sales or sell chocolate and it just didn’t happen. So I would have gone if money weren’t a problem.”

Q. Are there any places we didn’t go to that surprised you?

R.B. – “I’m surprised you guys didn’t go to sound studios. It’s a big part in music history, especially in Nashville music history.  A lot of people aren’t positive towards country music, I saw lots of complaints about it. It just bothered me that you guys didn’t go do a lot of things I would have loved to do if I had gone on the trip.”

Q.  What is something you would like to say to all the students who were able to go on the trip and have the experience?

R.B.- “I’d like to say congratulations. I’m glad that you guys had a great bonding experience. I know there was a lot of fighting between people who did and didn’t go which I think is unfair cause I think we should all be happy for each other. I would have loved to have gone if I could have. And I think that it’s important for our choir to bond over a trip like that and have fun and go to competition. So just to the group who did go I’d like to say congratulations and I’m glad you guys had a good time.”

Q. What was your first reaction to the price of the trip?

K.H.- “For me when I first looked at it, I thought it looked a little pricey for just a four day trip. But then when you take in the account of everything, like the chaperons and the bus driver. Especially all the expenses of the hotel, and that it’s already paid for, I think it evens out more.”

Q. Did the $725 dollars you paid balance out with all the activities in the trip?

K.H.-  “Well for what Mr. Smith said what we were going to do and all we did, I think that  most of it was worth it. There were a couple bumps in the road with hotels, but for the most part, most of it was worth the while. We didn’t have too much trouble.”

Q. Is there anything that you wish we could have did that would have made the trip feel like it was worth the $725 dollars? Or anything that we could have cut that would have taken away from the price of the trip?

K.H.- “I think that hotels definitely contributed to the expensive price. We weren’t even there that long. We were at the hotel not even a couple of hours, just that night. Then we left that morning. We didn’t have to spend that much money on hotels. We could have stayed in a motel or cheaper hotel than what we stayed in. I think there were more places we could have gone, maybe stayed in certain places a little longer. We should have split the time more evenly so we had equal time in Memphis and Nashville.”

Q. How long did it take you to get money for the trip? Was it easy or  difficult considering you had a certain time period to pay certain amounts?

K.H.- “For me,  I picked up a job a little while before he told us about this trip. I picked up the job I think a month before he told us about it. I was working every weekend. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, making at least $65 or $75 dollars every night so I could pay for the trip. I was spending most of my tips each nights to keep up with the amount that had to be paid. Plus I had to  fund raise a little bit because I didn’t have enough. Tips and paychecks aren’t all that it is to get what you wanna get. In total I think it took me probably four and a half to five months to fully fund raise everything.”

Q. What would you like to say to the students who didn’t get to go on the trip and have that experience?

K.H. – “I mean I understand the struggle cause when I first heard about it, $725 dollars, I thought I wasn’t gonna have that. Once i started thinking of all the opportunities that I was gonna have though. I’m not really gonna have a lot more opportunities like this. I mean, you have big opportunities, and if you don’t take them, it’s a hard situation. $725 dollars is a lot of money for most people cause it’s just gonna come right out of your pocket. So all I have to say to them is that, we wanted you there, but we understand that not everyone was able to go.”