Five students qualified to perform at the PMEA District 7 Orchestra Championships at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Feb. 8-10.

School districts from all around central Pennsylvania send their best students to play at the festival, and junior Harrison Mabon, seniors Ian and Robert Rosul, sophomore Jacob Iwanowicz and junior Chloe Warner will perform in it this year.

Within the stringent audition process for the festival, once students pass the audition, they wait until they go to the festival in February. Once they arrive, they spend the day auditioning for the next level of PMEA, regionals. Then, they spend the next few days rehearsing for a concert that is held on the last day of the festival. School districts from all around central Pennsylvania send their best student to play at the festival, and only five students from Susquehannock made it this year.

Junior Harrison Mabon, a violinist, has been playing for over eleven years. He has been to the festival before but still looks forward to this year’s festival as a new adventure.

“This is something I’ve done for the last couple of years…,” Mabon said. “It’s a cool opportunity because it lets you meet a lot of different people you wouldn’t interact with.”

Trumpeter Chloe Warner is going to PMEA Orchestra for the first time after going to PMEA Band since freshman year.

“I am really excited to be in a different festival than just band,” Warner said. “I think orchestra will be a lot of fun because it’s like the best of the best players because there are fewer of us.”

Warner views the festival as a way for musicians to express their abilities in a competitive and communal environment.

“The auditions are competitive, but the actual festival- they’re really fun, and you’re getting to play with people from all these school districts,” Warner said.

Andrew Jones, the orchestra director at Susquehannock for two years and teacher for 13 years, enjoys watching students experience the thrills of performing at PMEA.

“I think they enjoy the finished [music],” Jones said. “It is also really cool meeting students from different schools and quickly becoming a family.”

The students who made it into the festival view it as a major achievement as a member of the SHS Orchestra. Only a very select number of students from all around the state make it into the festival, so it is seen as a prestigious events among High School Orchestra students all across Pennsylvania.

Mabon is proud of his accomplishments.
“I’m pretty happy with how I did, and I am glad about everything I learned going into it,” Mabon said.

Warner is also glad to have made it into the festival this year.

“I just decided I wanted to do this within just a few weeks ago,” Warner said. “And so I wasn’t expecting to get as far as I did this year with it… I am excited to [play trumpet] on a more prestigious scale, and I am proud.”

With PMEA District 7 Championships fast approaching, the students are preparing themselves for the event.