Philharmonic students making holiday pies to fund trip

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Thanksgiving preparation felt like a family affair when students in the Hoosier Youth Philharmonic gathered to core apples, roll out pie dough and measure cinnamon and nutmeg.

They were trading in their violins and cellos for rolling pins and aprons to raise money for a trip and to help the Community Kitchen.

Just over 100 students from Bloomington high schools North and South make up the Hoosier Youth Philharmonic, and they will be headed to Washington, D.C., in February to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, as long as they can pay for the trip.

The HYP hopes to raise around $30,000 to get the students to the performance, and sold pre-ordered pecan, apple and pumpkin pies that families could serve up at their Thanksgiving table or donate to the Community Kitchen in Bloomington.

"So, not only are the kids doing this for themselves, but for somebody else in the community," said Maria Schmidt, a booster parent.

The orchestra students were covered in flour, some of them trying their hands at baking for the first time, to get 160 pies ready for baking. For the students, it was like spending time with family a little before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Max Cron, a senior at South, was coring and peeling apples. Even though learning an instrument isn't easy, Cron said being involved in orchestra is a chance to relax.

"It's kind of like home base," he said.

Hannah Hanscom, a senior at North, feels the same way.

"Orchestra has become a family to me. We're just all friends, and we're there for each other, and we get to make music together," she said.

Both Cron and Hanscom are excited about the opportunity to show off their musical talents in Washington D.C. and didn't mind putting pies together. In fact, they said it was pretty fun.

The HYP is one of four orchestras that will perform at the Capital Orchestra Festival at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Jane Gouker.

Parents like Schmidt and Kim Vogelsang, who are boosters for the program, are happy to help out to get their kids and Gouker to the Kennedy Center.

"It's one experience that will last a lifetime. It's one that they'll remember," Vogelsang said.

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Source: The (Bloomington) Herald-Times,

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com