Choir students from the Poway Unified School District, along with students from 24 other schools in the county, sang the National Anthem in front of 39,058 spectators at the Padres game Tuesday night.
Choir Night, held for the second year, is a partnership between the San Diego Padres and the California Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association to promote music education. The event featured 47 students from , 20 from and 20 from Westview High School.
Logan Washburn, the Padres representative who is in charge of the event, said the team was inspired by the success that other Major League teams have had with their choir nights and wanted to organize one of its own.
“I reached out to the Arizona Diamondbacks Group Sales Department for advice on what made their event so successful,” he said. “They recommended contacting the American Choral Directors Association.”
Washburn eventually met Poway High choir director and the San Diego representative for the ACDA Nancy Gray, who now oversees Choir Night.
Washburn said the event has been a success for the Padres. In the inaugural Choir Night last year, 350 students from 11 schools participated. This year, approximately 650 students from 24 schools participated.
“We are always looking for unique and creative ways to bring out large groups for Padres games that would not normally come to games on their own,” Washburn said. “We saw this as a great opportunity to provide a memorable experience for local middle school and high school students that can also be associated with the Padres brand.”
While Choir Night can be used by the participating schools' choirs as a fundraiser, it is not the primary focus of the night, Gray said. She said she hopes to include more students next year.
"The primary focus is music education."
