2023 European Band Trip

Hi, my name is Heather. My daughter Makaylah Parker has been nominated by her band director to venture off to Europe for a Once in a Lifetime two week experience with the Illinois Ambassadors of Music program in the Summer of 2023.

 

The ILLINOIS AMBASSADORS OF MUSIC is an honor band and choir chosen through director nominations and/or participation in honor ensembles from across the State of Illinois. The Illinois Ambassadors of Music is formed every other year and have traveled since the 1980s on concert tours through major European cities. Makaylah will represent Illinois to the people of Europe, performing five concerts in London, Paris, Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Rothenburg, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria. Day trips are scheduled to Zermatt (the Matterhorn), Montreux, and Vienna. She will meet and make friends from across Illinois and will create memories that will last a lifetime.

 

She will see Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Eiffel Tower, & The Louvre. Additionally, she will go on several tours throughout all of these countries. Some educational such as Dachau Concentration Camp, and others musical related such as The Sound of Music.

 

Makaylah has worked very hard over the years, and this nomination proves her hard work is paying off. She graduated 8th grade this year with Straight A's and High Honors. She received awards for Band, Cheer, National Junior Honor Society, & The President's Education Award Program for Outstanding Academic Excellence. It is because of all this hard work and achievement she is blessed with this nomination.

 

I have the great fortune as her mother to be able to share in this experience with her and we are both so very excited.

 

The trip is all-inclusive. Meals, transportation, & sleeping accommodations are all included. They will travel by land once in Europe on the same set of coach buses. Each bus will consist of two drivers, a tour guide, & a translator. The sleeping accommodations are all first-rate accommodations, and the food is also. The organizers and Bob Rodgers Travel have all taken this trip in advance and traveled the same buses, slept in the same hotels, ate the same food, & took the same tours to ensure that the students and accompanying parents all have a fantastic experience.

 

You can check out more details about the trip at Ambassadors Of Music

 

Makaylah will start babysitting this summer to raise funds on her own for the trip and I am going to be looking into getting a second part time job as well. However, this is still a big financial significance and we could use any and all help to make this possible.

 

I am asking you today friends and family to help Makaylah and I in raising funds for this amazing Once in a Lifetime experience and help share in the joy and growth this trip will bring to us both individually and together. I have created this GoFundMe campaign in the hopes of helping deplete some of the financial burden this amazing experience will bring on a household of a single mother with sole financial responsibility. I strive to provide every amazing opportunity I can for my daughter who works so hard and succeeds so considerably at such a young age.

 

Thank you in advance for your contributions!! We both love you all and look forward to sharing our memories with you from Europe!