They were not expecting it at all!
A group of 9 Houston high school band seniors just received $50k scholarships to Langston University, Click 2 Houston reports.
This past November 60 members of the Worthing High School Marching Band and their dancers traveled to Langston University, a historically Black college located in Oklahoma. There, the students were able to tour the campus, practice with the Langston University band, meet its director and perform during the football game with the HBCU band. Unbeknownst to some of the band members, they were going to receive more than just an experience.
During the trip for the university's band tryouts, all nine senior members of the Worthing High band received $50,000 scholarships to attend and play for Langston University, a complete surprise to the students and Worthing band director Kuan Mitchell.
“The best moment of the trip was seeing the excitement of my seniors once they received their scholarships…I couldn’t have written the script any better,” Mitchell said.
Worthing Principal Everett Hare also joined in for the trip, calling the moment a “major achievement.”
“I’ve never seen it where all of them earned scholarships. Other schools also took part, so it was competitive,” said Principal Hare.
The principal went on to add that the experience was life-changing for all of the band members, underclassmen included. Not only did they have the opportunity to get the full HBCU experience and bear witness to the perks that could come with being successful in their craft, they were also able to speak to Worthing alumni who are now students at Langston.
“Some of the students had never visited a college campus,” Hare said.
The Worthing band will go on to represent the city of Houston in the 2022 National 4th of July celebrations in Washington, D.C.
Congratulations to the Worthing High School Marching Band's class of 2022!
Photo Courtesy of Houston ISD News Blog