While most students travel home for the holidays, 32 members of the Ball State University Singers will travel to Washington, D.C. to bring a taste of Hoosier holiday cheer to the White House's Green Room next week.
Jeffrey Carter, in his second year as director of University Singers, said the White House has not told University Singers who they are scheduled to entertain. He does know, however, that the group will be performing for an invitation-only function.
"It doesn't matter who it is," said Brian Lotter, third-year glee-club member. "Performing in the White House is going to be incredible."
Carter speculated the group could perform for family members of the press, donors or families of congressional staff members.
"What we do know is it won't be for some executive function," Carter said.
This trip is the culmination of a vision of Carter's. Carter wrote the first letter requesting his group perform last February. He then wrote letters in April and again in June. At first, Carter said he received rejections, but with his persistence he eventually received a phone call four weeks ago inviting his group to take the trip.
"The trip came up so suddenly," Carter said. "The members are paying over half the cost of the trip."
Next Sunday, 22 glee-club singer/dancers and 10 band and technical members will board a bus at 6:30 a.m. for the 11-hour-long ride to Washington.
Carter said the tentative trip itinerary includes a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and a trip to the grave site of Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, who revived his master's degree at Ball State and died in the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Carter said the group will present a wreath at Maude's grave on behalf of Ball State.
"I think it's something that will be very meaningful for the students," Carter said.
The University Singers also plan to pay a visit to congressman Mike Pence while in Washington.
The group will perform in the White House at the end of the trip, choosing Christmas music from its usual set for two one-hour morning performances. The songs are all Christmas tunes, ranging from "Jingle Bells" to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
Carter said he has specific instructions on when and where to unload in the White House, and he was required to submit names and Social Security numbers of everyone who will accompany the singers. Carter said that band members are not permitted to bring musical instruments into the White House, so they will instead sing with the glee-club members of the cast.
First-year member Don Walter, a senior, will accompany the singers using the White House's piano. For Walter, being a member of University Singers is an experience he has aspired to reach for his entire collegiate career.
"To actually be chosen," Walter said, "I was amazed."
Carter accredited the invitation to perform at the White House to the University Singers' 38-year reputation. This trip is not the first, nor will it be last that University Singers take.
Ball State alumnus Jan Richard, one of the founding members of the group, has maintained ties with the group and has traveled as a chaperone with the group to places such as Russia, Greece, Paris, Holland and Austria.
"They're like family to me," Richard said. "They're a legacy of a dream I had when I was their age."
Overall, the singers display flags in their practice room from 20 different foreign countries where the group has toured. Twice, the group has been named American's top collegiate organization and is recognized by the Indiana legislature as "Indiana's Official Goodwill Ambassadors."
Carter said that after taking the group to Washington, he would like to see them travel internationally again.
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