White Knoll HS band to make special trip to New York

The White Knoll High band from Lexington, South Carolina, travels to New York City on March 26 through March 29. There the band will enjoy the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, March 27, 2008. In planning the trip, members of the band booster club realized a great opportunity to personally connect the 87 band students with the New York City Fire Department. The band will be staying at the newly renovated Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center in East Rutherford, NJ.

A special relationship already exists between the students and FDNY. The roots of this relationship date back to 1867 when New York firemen helped the fire department in Columbia, S.C., rebuild after the Civil War.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, White Knoll Middle, a feeder school for White Knoll High, spearheaded a fundraising campaign to purchase a fire truck for FDNY. Many of the band members making the trip to New York were students at either White Knoll Middle or its elementary feeder schools during this time.
With the help of individuals from across South Carolina and the nation, White Knoll Middle raised more than $500,000 in 2001. The money was used to purchase a fire truck and other equipment for Ladder 101 of FDNY.

The band students proudly remember selling buttons and shirts, holding car washes, sponsoring bake sales and participating in the many other activities to raise the money. Now the students, as a result of the band’s trip to New York City, have the opportunity to personally meet the firemen who benefited from the students’ generosity.
The trip also culminates a year during which the connection between the White Knoll community and FDNY helped to honor a graduate of White Knoll High who died serving his country in Iraq.

White Knoll High raised money to name the school’s stadium field house in honor of Joshua L. Torrence, a 2003 WKH graduate who was killed in Fallujah while serving in the United States Marine Corps. As part of this fundraising campaign, four New York City firefighters presented a key note address during a weekend-long celebration, held on November 2–3, 2007. During this celebration the school dedicated the field house and honored veterans and first responders.