“Throughout these past few years, I found music to be my happy place. At home, music has helped me get through many difficult times, but at school, music gave me a second family. I auditioned for Vocalaires at the end of my freshman year and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Joining Vocalaires came with a lot of commitment I wasn’t used to, from practicing at home to the many outside-of-school performances. Overall the commitment wasn’t too difficult because I was surrounded by a group of people with a similar passion for music. Though it took me some time to get comfortable with everyone in the choir my first year, I experienced a family at school for the first time. These past 3 years I found myself always looking forward to going to the 6th hour. Thanks to my teacher, Ms. Stier, and my classmates, I can always count on the choir to cheer me up at the end of a rough day at school. I always try to bring a good attitude to class each day because they’re the reason I leave school with a smile on my face. Vocalaires helped me realize that all it takes is a group of people with a similar interest or passion to create a family-like relationship, and I hope to take that with me in the future and find a choir family in college too,” Sr. Jose Estupinan said.