Typically, the guitar students at Potomac Falls are praised and known for their talent, hard work, and dedication to the fine arts program; however, for a dozen students in the program, their commitment to playing guitar does not end after class. Several students have auditioned and been admitted into the county wide guitar program, Loudoun Youth Guitars.

“It’s a county wide ensemble where [students] audition at the beginning of the year, in September. You audition for a specific part,” said junior Maryam Hajialigol .

This is a prestigious honor considering that students from all over Loudoun County audition to join, but Potomac Falls holds a majority of those seats. “It really says how the people in our guitar program want to be involved in guitar outside of school, that they’re committed,” said senior Kyle Stone. Their commitment paid off when Loudoun Youth Guitars were selected to perform on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on Wednesday, March 19.

“They have a program once every year where [the Kennedy Center] takes two instrumental groups and two vocal groups from schools from the D.C. Metro Area,” said Hajialigol, “You send in recordings and they pick two groups of each kind. We sent in a recording in December or January and they got back to us a month later and told us we could preform.”

Several profound plays and musicals have been performed at the famous Kennedy Center. Having the opportunity to play at the same locations as these wonderful works called for several hours of practice.

“We had lots of extra rehearsals, because of the snow days we had some rehearsals at interesting places like our director’s house,” said Hajialigol.

The rehearsals lasted for about two hours each week, typically on Wednesday nights. Their ensemble, headed by Park View Guitar Teacher Dr. Miroslav Loncar, selected the best songs fitted to their skilled guitarists’ talent.

“We played six songs, my favorite was the Hungarian Dance No. 5. It was fast moving and really fun,” said Stone.

When the group stepped on stage, they were greeted by a large audience.

“There were lots of parents there. It was a huge audience, with people who wanted to come and see the program,” said Stone.

The concert was also live streamed so family and friends could watch from the comfort of their homes, allowing for the Loudoun Youth Guitars program to have several eyes watching their performance. In the end, the concert went smoothly and each song was played with grace and enthusiasm.

“It was fantastic! It was really cool to see the other group too. They were orchestra, so that was really fun,” said Hajialigol.

The Loudoun Youth Guitars program will continue to practice and perform at various locations around the county; however, nothing will compare to the excitement of performing at the Kennedy Center.

“It was amazing. It was the most important performance we have had so far,” said Stone.