Orchestra students will leave their instruments behind and head down to Russell Creek Park in Plano at 5:30 p.m. for a night of food, games, and a snowball fight at the annual Bach to School Bash.

“I hope that everyone will have fun and make new friends because a lot of times you don’t see people from your middle school anymore, or you’re coming from different schools, so you get to meet people in different orchestras in different grades,” assistant orchestra director Victoria Lien said. “We have some pod games, with our many groups within the orchestra, and we compete with each other with relay races.” 

Orchestra president, senior Christine Le is looking forward to her last bash and hopes it will keep students coming to other events.

“It’s always been a social that makes the opening of the school more fun,” Le said. “It’s cool knowing that a lot of other people are looking forward to attending

Lien believes socials are key to establishing a cohesive program by building connections outside of class.

“Socials are really important because orchestra is not just about making music,” Lien said. “It’s about building relationships with each other, like Ms. Blackstock [orchestra director Julie Blackstock] and I always say all of our friends that we have right now are from orchestra, not only because we’re music teachers, but because that’s the people you spend the most time with. It’s good to meet new people and definitely like people, different grades and instruments and all that stuff.”

For sophomore Lily Nguyen, the Bach to School Bash helped her break out of her shell.

“It’s definitely boosted my self-esteem and given me more confidence than I usually would’ve had,” Nguyen said. “I love spending time with the orchestras and everybody’s crazy during these socials. It just matches my personality and I want to spend more time with them and make memories.”