Wenatchee High School’s Mariachi Huenachi flew to Fairbanks Alaska after being invited to play at the Northern Lights Concert Alaska Tour from Oct. 23-2. The attendance consisted mostly of seniors. This created an opportunity for seniors to visit the campus of the University of Fairbanks and consider it as an option for next fall. Mariachi Huenachi played at various places while being in Fairbanks.

   “[We] played at a Chinese restaurant, the Mayan Palace Mexican restaurant, the North Pole and the University of Fairbanks,” said senior Jared Vidal, vice president of Mariachi Huenachi.

    The group was able to play songs that they’ve been practicing all year with their classmates and have played at other events.

    “[We] played the ‘Jose Alfredo Mix,’ which was sung by seniors Aaron camarena, Jared Vidal and Jesus Leandro, also ‘Cucurrucucu Paloma’ sung by senior Daniela Alpire and ‘El Cascabel’ sung by Vidal at the restaurants but at the big event at Fairbanks it was sung by Jose Iniguez,” Vidal said. 

    Not everyone in the group was able to go to Alaska, it was mainly for seniors because it was more informational towards them. After all the seniors spots were filled, there was more space for other group members to go. Officers were next in line to go, as well as Junior Ismael Mota and sophomore Mauricio Ramos. 

    “The trip was more for seniors because we were visiting the University but since we only have two guitarron players they both went with us and then officers but there were only 11 spots available besides Mr. Rivera and Mr. Cortes who also went,” senior Bianca Lagunas said.

    The group had the opportunity to get a full tour around the campus of the University of Fairbanks, they got more input about what they had to offer and what the school was mainly about.

    “It was exciting because we got a three day trip around the school when people normally only get a few hours. The school is definitely more hands on and we got a lot more in-depth information about how scholarships and classes work,” Vidal said.

    When the group wasn’t playing they were able to tour around the city, as well as getting to visit different places.

    “We watched the northern lights, although we were tired we went to see the northern lights at 3 a.m, hot springs, besides that we went to visit the Alaskan pipelines, the museum,” Lagunas said.  

    The students went to the University of Fairbanks to visit the campus and played in Davis hall alongside with Jose Iniguez who joined them in singing “El Cascabel” but after the group was done playing the school had something to offer. 

    “We applied to get into the university and after our performance we all got acceptance letters for the University of Fairbanks to attend there next fall,” Lagunas said.