Washington Co. Graduating Orchestra Comes Together For One Last Performance

ST. GEORGE, Utah — A special project in the Washington County School District brought graduating orchestra students together — not physically, but emotionally — for one last performance.

There is no doubt, music does something to people.

“I love music in that way,” said Matthew Whatcott.

For every second Whatcott watched this music video, his smile got bigger — but toward the end, so did his tears.

“It’s been one of the hardest things for sure, yup,” he said.

Whatcott is a senior at Dixie High School, part of the Class of 2020 that will be remembered as the Class of so many cancellations because of the coronavirus.

“It’s been a little tough, but I think the hardest things is not so much the graduation so much as not seeing my peers and friends,” he said.

He said that’s where his tears came from.

Whatcott is in his school’s orchestra.

This was the first time he saw the finished video he and his orchestra classmates performed to be played during virtual graduation.

But the video wasn’t just Dixie High students.

It was of 22 orchestra seniors from 8 Washington County High Schools who came together as one class, for one final graduation song.

“With all the things the virus has taken away from us, this is one of the benefits, is it brings us together as a community,” said Porter Dansie, a senior at Hurricane High School.

The idea for the video came from the Washington County School District who was upset normal graduations were being cancelled.

“When we first heard that it was probably going to be virtual graduations, we thought, ‘What can we do to make this special?” said Steven Dunham, the communications director for the Washington County Schools.

The students learned a song in only seven days, then performed it — individually and in small groups — so a sound engineer could record them.

The music was then edited into one song.

The district got special permission to shoot the video at Snow Canyon State Park. They used drones, several cameras, and green screens to film it.

It was shot several different times, with small groups of students at a time so they could social distance from each other.

“I’m just really grateful that they did that to make it possible for us and have something special for us,” said Caitie Utley, a senior at Snow Canyon High School.

The video was then edited to make it look like they were together for one big production.

“Everybody has been so willing to step up and help, really try to make something exciting for them,” Dunham said.

The video was nice, but it was the coming together during difficult times these students feel will only help them later in life.

“I think it will. I think it will help me — especially to teach my kids and grandkids — to appreciate what they have, especially in school,” said Whatcott.

The Class of 2020, already looking forward.