SOH Student Got Talent

Royal Regiment Raider Receives Recognition

by Elma Gonzalez

Musical talent is seldom recognized at SOH. However, today we must honor a distinguished trombone player, Mark Angelo Mendez. This fellow Raider will be performing in the National Honor Band at Carnegie Hall this summer.

Mark, a senior, attended Castle Park High for three years, but this year he decided to transfer to SOH. “This school has a better band program,” explains Mark, who has studied music since the 7^th grade.

The National Band accepts only the best musicians in the country, as a result there are many requirements Mark had to meet to be part of this prestigious program. First, he was nominated by the band teacher, Ms. Clark. Following his nomination Mark had to submit an application, pay a $200 fee, and record a solo of his choice. According to Mark, recording the solo was the most challenging part of the application process. For his solo, he chose a top piece for trombone players. “It was a hard piece, one that really pushed me,” describes Mark, “but Ms. Clark helped me through the process.”

Out of thousands of students across the country, our peer was selected as one of the 9 trombone players in the “Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall Honors Band”. In June, Mark will fly to New York to begin rehearsal with the rest of the band members. He will be attending classes at Julliard and will play in a famous concert at Carnegie Hall. Mark is very excited about traveling to New York this summer, and he is grateful to Ms. Clark and his Dad for their help and support to make it possible.

This year Ms. Clark nominated three more students for this program: Brian Hernandez, Juan Ruiz, and Liani Cruz, who will be a 9th grader next year.We wish them the best of luck, and congratulate them and Mark for having such great talent!