On April 9th, 2026, the Arlington High School band went to New York during spring break participating in competitions, marching in a Scottish parade, and getting to see a Broadway show. They also got to see the Statue of Liberty and dine at Ellen’s Stardust Diner.
“We got to the school at 3:45 and packed up all of the luggage… and got on the buses. Then we drove to the airport and we had a hard time getting all the stuff from the bus into the plane, but we ended up being able to do it” said Ellison O’Brien (‘26). “We didn’t have a lot of time because TSA took forever, so we ran from TSA to the gate and got on the plane. Was there for five and a half hours, and then once we got off the plane, since it was three hours ahead, it was practically dinnertime there, so we just went and we walked around Rockefeller and went sightseeing for probably half an hour and then went to Ellen’s Diner, which was a lot of fun,” O’Brien said.
They got to watch performers dance and sing as they ate. The workers there are aspiring to become a star on Broadway. Many people suggested that it was like a musical but you were in it, watching them. Kind of like backup dancers. After watching the great performance, they went to their hotel. The hotel was about an hour away from the diner.
The band woke up at 7:00 for breakfast and then headed to New Providence High School. At the school, the Concert band, Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Band rehearsed. The marching band marched around the track practicing for the big day.
“Then we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was really fun. We didn’t get too much time to do that. However, the experience we got there was really fun,” said McKinley Taylor, (‘29).
They got to ride the ferry to Ellis Island and got a tour of the Statue of Liberty. After that tour concluded, they went back to Manhattan to get a tour at the Empire State building.
“We went to the Empire State Building and we got a tour there. We got to go to the top and sightsee all that stuff. It was cool, and then…we had dinner wherever we wanted. We went to Times Square and then went back to the hotel and slept.” O’Brien said.
On Saturday, they went back to Providence High at 7:00 and started to warm up. The Wind Ensemble performed first, then the Concert Band, and lastly the Jazz band. After that they headed to the auditorium to compete in the marching band section. Once they finished, they took off to the Tartan Parade which is a Scottish parade.
“It was crazy because there was bagpipes behind us and in front of us and then we were just playing like Bad Romance, which was really funny, but it was a lot of fun and then after being in a uniform for eight hours, we went and we saw a Broadway show, which was a lot of fun, and then we went to Times Square as well that day, so we ran around a lot on Saturday,” said O’Brien.
Once they finished the parade, they went to see the Broadway show, Aladdin, which stars Rodney Ingram, Sonya Balsara, and Michael James Scott. On the last day of their trip, they got up early to go to the awards ceremony. Before they went to the ceremony, they got to explore the Intrepid Air and Space Museum and then got to hear what their scores were.
“We went to the award ceremony, and we won most of our things. The concert band got second, but everybody else got first, which is awesome,” said Finley Anderson. (‘27).
After the awards, the band headed to The JFK Airport. They boarded the plane but then something unexpected happened.
“There were so many sick kids that the pilot said it would be best if we got off the plane. And so we left, and then we stayed in New York a whole other day while Aguilar was figuring out how to get us back here,” said Taylor.
Nobody knows exactly what the sickness was, some say food poisoning and others say Noro Virus. Mr. Aguilar was on the phone for four hours trying to figure out what to do. He tried his hardest and succeeded in getting the kids home safely on four different planes.
“The first plane was at 7 a.m, so those people stayed in the airport because by the time we figured out all this information, it was 2, 3 in the morning, and then the second plane was at I want to say 10:30-11 and then the third one was about 11:30-12:00 and the fourth one, which was mine, was at 6:30, but it did take off till 8:00. So the latest someone got home off a plane was 12:30 pm,” O’Brien said.
The kids with the later planes got to go to a hotel and get some sleep, but the earlier ones had to stay at the airport. They slept under chairs, cuddled in corners, trying to get comfortable but there was one person that figured out this situation as fast as possible thinking of the kids the whole time.
“Aguilar, he got us home safely, even in absolute chaos, and he was working really hard to do that,” said Taylor.
The New York Trip was an amazing experience for all the band kids that went. They grew stronger bonds, grew in their playing skills, and worked extremely hard to get there. From Ellen’s Diner to the Statue of Liberty and a Broadway show, these students have definitely experienced an amazing spring break and it would not have happened without Mr. Aguilar.
“Big thanks to Aguilar for getting us home safely and for working around it. He was on the call with airport staff and travel agents for like four hours straight,” Anderson said.
