Caroline Hyde, an eighth-grade student at East Rockford Middle School, will be participating in Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp’s 42nd Annual European Tour this summer.
Caroline Hyde
Hyde is among more than 400 talented participants and staff who will be visiting nine countries from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea as part of Blue Lake’s International Exchange Program, which began in 1969. In return, Blue Lake and nearly 100 Michigan and Midwest communities will host 20 European groups that will visit the U.S.A. throughout the summer and into the fall.
Hyde will be part of a 78-voice choir under the direction of Dr. Carol Ott. Prior to departing, the groups will spend one week at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in intensive rehearsals and preparations for the tours.
In each European community they visit, Blue Lake’s performing ambassadors will stay in local homes, as will members of the groups that tour Michigan.
According to Gretchen Stansell, founder and director of the program, the goal of Blue Lake’s International Exchange Program is to promote peace and understanding through the universal language of the arts.
Hyde is a soprano voice student in the Blue Lake Choir, and the daughter of Joel and Ann Hyde of Rockford.
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