Decatur High Band Students Headed to Chiapas, Mexico for Spring Break

Students from band are going to Chiapas, Mexico on April 1st as part of a spring break cultural exchange.

The trips are coordinated by Friendship Force International, an Atlanta-based organization promoting friendship and goodwill through exchanges in more than 50 countries.

A total of 40 students in the Decatur High School band will visit a high school in Chiapas, Mexico and together, they will perform in a parade. The Decatur band also will put on a performance attended by the governor. Students will also enjoy a reception at the Tuxtla Gutiérrez City Hall hosted by the mayor there.

“The Chiapas trip is a great opportunity for our students to see music and culture in a place very unlike what they experience every day in Decatur,” said Megan Williams, band director at Decatur High School. “The students will have a life-changing trip and come home with a renewed perspective on the world around us.”

Friendship Force International has been coordinating band exchanges for Decatur High for more than 10 years. Decatur High has hosted band trips to destinations including Japan, Germany, England, Slovakia and Belgium.

This program through Friendship Force, provides American high school band students the opportunity to spend a week with band students in another country. The visiting students are then paired with local host families who introduce them to their culture, school and daily life. They tour places of cultural relevance together, and the bands typically perform together.

The exchange allows students to experience different kinds of music and meet other musicians. It also provides a unique opportunity for teenagers to experience another culture, said Jillian Walters, communications coordinator for Friendship Force International.

“These teenage ambassadors and hosts may be very different from each other, but the band, the practicing, the joy of performance and the love of music — these are things they all have in common,” said Walters. “By meeting and becoming friends with the student musicians of another country, they see that their differences don't divide them.”

Founded in 1977, Friendship Force International organizes an extensive program of home hosting or exchanges in more than 50 countries.

For more information on high school band exchanges, please contact Jillian Walters at jwalters@thefriendshipforce.org, or (404) 965-4359.