CHARLOTTE — The white smoke from the Sistine Chapel made Catholic school classrooms across the diocese freeze and quickly turn on the TV. Teachers and students put a pause to learning for this once-in-a-lifetime event as they watched the first North American pope ever elected appear in the window and deliver his first address. Cheers, applause and screams erupted as students jumped out of their seats in excitement. For once, instead of the teachers trying to calm down the chaos, they joined in, enjoying a truly historic moment where religion and patriotism intertwine:
The Charlotte Catholic High School Band Honors Wind Ensemble got the opportunity to record in RCA Studio B Recording Studio next to the “Elvis Steinway.” The entire band had the chance to compete in the WorldStrides Nashville Heritage Festival on March 15, where they captured gold. Two members brought up the gifts during Mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, a Jubilee Year 2025 pilgrimage site. (Photos submitted by Tom Molloy and Stephanie Hilley)NASHVILLE — The Charlotte Catholic High School Band competed in the WorldStrides Nashville Heritage Festival on March 15. Their performance returned a score of 93.3, which brought home a gold rating and first-place award in the Band Division. Out of 11 performance groups, they also won Most Outstanding Festival Performance and the Adjudicators Award for Best Director and Best Presentation.
Their ratings earned them an invitation to the Heritage Festivals Honors Invitational in Chicago Symphony Hall next year.
The competition featured an instructional clinic with the former principal tubist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Fedderly. The band is led by Director Jacob Bohan and Assistant Director Benjamin Ranzinger.
Upon arrival in Nashville, the Cougar Band attended the Country Classics show at the Grand Ole Opry on the opening night of its 100-year anniversary season. Other highlights included visits to the Country Music Hall of Fame, downtown Nashville and RCA Studio B, where the Honors Wind Ensemble recorded two songs alongside a 1942 Steinway piano used by Elvis Presley.
The students also took time to serve the community. In service arranged through Catholic Charities of Nashville, the students spent a morning picking up trash, clearing yard waste and cleaning indoor areas of the Catholic Charities Pastoral Center and Loaves & Fishes. The four-day trip concluded with Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, one of the U.S. pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025.
— Laura Hughes and Stephanie Hilley
