Home to some of America’s most iconic theme parks and bastioned in the sweet ‘Spring Break Capital’ of Florida- the city of Orlando ranks pretty high on the list of spots for Americans nationwide to add to their travel prospects in the face of warming weather. But beyond the novelty rides and scenic coasts, Orlando’s hot tourist wave makes it a buzzing location for several diverse hosts of entertainment and recreation; and one of their biggest scores this season (for students, at least) was the WorldStrides’ 2025 National Heritage Festival. After being designated as a host city for WorldStrides’ 2025 Performing Arts Program, Orlando opened invitations to high school music groups from across the country to visit and participate in an adjudicated competition on a national stage from April 3-6- an opportunity that North Atlanta’s choral department quickly secured and prepped extensively for.
With a packed itinerary and an even tighter deadline (including extraneous events/preparations that NAHS’ choral department was preparing for simultaneously), North Atlanta High School’s chorus took the necessary steps to prepare for their four-day long excursion from April 10-13, where they would be performing alongside high schools from several different states in an open-platform competition adjudicated by a panel of three nationally renowned adjudicators. The festival’s host organization, WorldStrides, is a school-based explorer program in the U.S. designed to provide students with the opportunity to travel both across state borders and outside of the country; in conjunction with their Orlando event, WorldStrides also holds Heritage Festivals in 27 different locations across America (and select countries such as Canada and Austria)- including Atlanta!
Over the course of their time spent in the Sunshine State, the chorus effectively explored every inch that the program had to offer them (adjudication and all)- and gleaned out an extraordinary 2nd place and WorldStrides Spirit Award for their hard work. WorldStrides also facilitated group-on-group meetings with skilled choral clinicians prior to their performances, and despite being composed of students of varying grades, performers made a genuine effort across the board to deliver holistic results that reflected the experiences they had accrued over the past year. Turns out, performing for the Atlantan government equips nerves of steel. “It was magical,” sophomore soprano Kai Licorish said, “being able to see the product of our hard work in real time was great- and the theme park passes were a bonus!”
Of course, like any highly-driven and extremely professional performing arts group would do when given the opportunity to travel to Orlando during Florida’s prime time, the chorus took major advantage of their schedule’s pre-issued 2-Day Park-to-Park Ticket to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure package- where they were aptly treated with some much deserved TLC and ride-induced unwinding. Here’s to Warrior excellence down south!
