By Joan Passarelli

Town Crier Correspondent

Blach Intermediate School’s music students, under the direction of Vivian McNulty and Gail Wade, traveled to festivals this month to gain honors for their school.

The seventh-grade band, orchestra and chorus went to the Music in the Parks Festival at Valencia on May 10. They competed against four other middle schools and won two first places and a second place. The band was rated “Superior,” with over 90 out of 100 possible points.

In an annual tradition, the students stayed over to visit Magic Mountain theme park the next day, before riding buses home to arrive in Los Altos at midnight.

The eighth grade had their turn on May 17. They entered the Fullerton College Heritage Festival, one of a nationwide series. The band, orchestra and chorus all took first place, out of a field of four schools, and the orchestra earned the Adjudicator’s Choice award.

“That’s quite an honor,” McNulty said. “It means we are one of 12 groups invited to the national competition in Chicago.”

The eighth-graders celebrated their win at Disneyland.

“I’ve been doing this every year since 1989, when we only had 53 musicians total in the whole school,” McNulty said. “Now we have 270 students in the music program, which is over 60 percent of the student body.”

Blach’s final concert for the year is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., today, at Smithwick Theatre on the Foothill College campus. Tickets are $4 and available at Blach.

For more information, call 964-1196.