NORTH MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- It was a different kind of field trip for students in Schuylkill County on Wednesday.
Weekly music lessons are paying off for some St. Ambrose School students. They got out of the classroom and showed off their violin skills for residents at Rosewood Rehab and Nursing Home near Schuylkill Haven.
"Very good, very enlightening. They just seem to get in the mood. They got in the mood, in the mood," said Dolores Verse.
Students from each class from third through sixth grades had the chance to perform some of their favorite songs. The hoedown even had an encore performance.
"I liked it because the people are so cheerful and thankful for us coming, and I really like to play the violin for people and let them have the opportunity to hear it," said sixth grader Kaitlyn Hartz.
"Kids don't understand when they practice at home that it's for something good, and when they play for people that appreciate them, they understand the worth of the music and how it can make people happy and fulfilled," said string instructor Simon Maurer.
St. Ambrose is the only school in the county with a string program.
"It's very challenging to learn the violin. I think more so than other instruments. It took them a while to appreciate the difficulty, so they have to study at home and practice, and it's a good result as you heard," Maurer said.
Residents at Rosewood recognized all of that hard work; they couldn't help but clap along.
"When you have music in your life, you have something. They have something," said Verse.
And these students do have something, with their weekly violin lessons at St. Ambrose School.