Students and faculty from Central’s band department will no longer travel to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil from March 13-23. This 10 day trip was abruptly canceled due to the influx of plane ticket prices to Brazil since one of the FIFA World Cup venues is located in Salvador.

“Everything has completely imploded,” Director of Bands DJ Alstadt said. “Prices would be astronomical in comparison to the $1,800 it was going to cost.”

Although Central’s band won’t be going to Brazil, the trip was not planned in vain. There is still a university jazz band traveling to Brazil that has agreed to transport the donated instruments Central’s band department has collected in order to enrich impoverished Brazilian communities with music.

“While we won’t be able to directly see the impact, people will definitely feel the ripples of that,” Alstadt said. “The optimist in me is hopeful that one day our students will realize the impact that they’ve had in helping kids that they’ll never meet.”

Freshman Zoe Comerford has eagerly awaited this trip for a year and attended meetings about it as an eighth grader.

“I was very disappointed,” Comerford said. “I was looking forward to going to a different country with my friends and share our music.”

Although Alstadt himself is upset because he has never backed out of a trip in his last 15 years of teaching, he realizes the toll it must be taking on students.

“I think it’d be hard for any student,” Alstadt said. “[Grandparents] gave money for their grandkids to go on this trip, kids got part time jobs, people saved money. I certainly understand that people are angry right now, and allowing them to go through those emotions is normal and healthy. I know that our Redhawk community is disappointed, but I really hope that, at the same time, they realize that there are things that happen in life that are out of our control.”