On the night Nashua-Plainfield FFA members told the School Board about their October trip to the National Convention in Indianapolis, two other out-of-state trips were approved for music students; plus efforts to establish an every-other-year educational trip for fifth and sixth graders got the green light.

The board on Monday approved a trip this spring to The Chanhassan Dinner Theater in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. It’s an annual event for band and choir seniors that is funded through the N-P Music Boosters and parent contributions. Last year, they attended a performance of “Footloose.”

The board also approved an April 25-28, 2024, trip to Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, for any N-P High School students enrolled in band or choir, continuing the tradition of offering a such an excursion every four years. The same Tennessee trip scheduled in 2020 was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Students have been fundraising since fifth grade for their trip, through the help of the N-P Music Boosters,” said band director Scott Stroud. “The trip is paid with the money students fundraise and parent contributions.”

Community members who want to help can donate money to the trip by sending checks to the high school payable to N-P Music Boosters.

Another 2024 trip, this time for fifth and sixth graders is in development. The board gave faculty the green light last night to continue researching the logistics for the a trip that tentatively would go to historic Boston or Gettysburg, according to the presentation at the meeting.

In their presentation, FFA members repeatedly thanked the board for approving their trip.

The school district doesn’t fund these trips.