SU M M ER /FA LL 2 0 1 3 - Lancaster Mennonite School

ecame a reality when she leda group of 30 members of theLancaster Mennonite CampusChorale to South Africa fromJune 10-27. Campus Choraleis a group of select juniorsand seniors that practicedand performed togetherthroughout the 2012-13school year. This trip was the Nathaniel Kratz, 2013graduate, tries out a drum at the marketfinal LMS experience for the at Chameleon Village.members of the choir who“They love music and singing andgraduated this spring.dancing, and it just make me loveThe choir stopped at several it all the more too,” senior Alyseschools around Johannesburg Yoder said.and Pretoria to learn more about In addition to stops at severalthe African music culture and to schools, the students visitedshare their music as well, creating a the Pilanesberg Game Reserve,unique educational experience. Chameleon Village, the ApartheidThe students were overwhelmed Museum, the Indian Ocean andby the responses they received at Soweto, where they learned aboutthe various concerts throughout both apartheid and post-apartheidthe trip. As soon as the students South Africa. The chorale alsobegan to sing, the crowd would spent a weekend at Hope Valleyjoin in with clapping, snapping and Farm, a sugar cane plantation, anddancing, experiencing each note had the opportunity to present thewith the chorale.message and sing during a Zuluchurch service.Junior Maria Waterfield said thevisible transformation of the groupwas incredible and that she is proudof her fellow chorale members.“We have learned and grown somuch in our music in the last yearand especially over the course ofthis trip,” she said. “We are nolonger afraid to move, our soundis so much bigger, and we connectSeniors Sophia Mast and Aubrey Hallermuch more to the meaning of ourpractice a new dance with friends from astudent choir at Lebone II School. music.” Students experienceGermany as part ofexchange programNine LMS students and high schoolteacher Jonathan Metzler participatedin an exchange visit with theKreisgymnasium school in Bad Krozingen,Germany, this summer. Students from thetwo schools have visited each other seventimes in the past 13 years to promotecultural understanding and practicelanguage.Sophomore Rudolph Rigano III saidhe wanted to go because he hosted aGerman student in 2012 and wanted tosee him again. Senior Isaac King was moreinterested in improving his knowledge ofthe German language.The LMS students stayed with hosts atKreisgymnasium to experience the cultureand foods.“I loved it dearly and really want togo again because I had such a strongconnection with my exchange student,”freshman Faith Dinger said.The group also spent four days inBerlin visiting landmarks such as theSachsenhausen concentration campand took day trips to Strasbourg, Basel,Heidelberg and Staufen.“It was a once in a lifetime trip and thebonds formed are unlike any other,”senior Emily Pautler said.“I realized I don’t need souvenirs to remember this trip. Wehave songs that we have learned and movement skills thatwe’ve acquired. I will never forget it.” — Maddie Garber, seniorPROVIDED BY JON METZLER