On Thursday April 14, 2022 the LOHS orchestra won first place in the Three Rivers League competition. . The orchestra will advance to the state competition which will be held on May 11, 2022. The orchestra has put in a lot of effort to win the competition, practicing for the last few months to work towards their competition.

“This year in orchestra we’ve really learned to work together as a team,” said sophomore Phillip Rha. “Because we have one orchestra, we have all grades together which creates different dynamics, and so learning to work around those differences has been a unique challenge.” 

The team beat out the other competitors and their own expectations. “After winning we felt a huge sense of accomplishment because we felt that we had prevailed over a lot of setbacks, and it gave us a renewed sense of confidence in our orchestra collectively” said Rha. 

The orchestra is now  waiting for  their next chance to compete. “Our next competition will be on May 11, with schools from all across the state!” said Junior Cyndee Lee. 

“While winning isn’t a perfect measure of success and growth, it does validate all the hard work we’ve put in to improving this year… and it was satisfying to see that culminate in a district win!” The orchestra played three pieces, “Allegro Barbaro” by Bartok, “Argent Edge” by Dough Spata, and “Serenade” by Burch, all of which they plan to play at the OSAA championships.