March 13-20, 2025 – see the Tentative Itinerary for more information.  You’re right, this is not during the Adams 12 school district Spring Break.  We were awarded this opportunity and were approved by the school district to go before they changed the fall and spring break timing.  So your student gets two spring breaks of sorts and this is an “excused” absence for your student, but they will need to work out homework assignments, tests, etc. with their teachers in advance of the trip.

In addition to AdvantEdge Tours’ estimated trip costs above, you should be aware of the below other costs.

Yes.  Except the first payment, which will also include the insurance should you choose to use AdvantEdge’s insurance, cannot be made from fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account); you must make the first payment by credit card or ACH (bank account direct transfer).  Any and all other payments can be made from fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account) funds.  Your student’s Charms account (Student Ledger) must have available at least one full trip payment amount above the fund raising goal (FRG) in order to request a trip payment be made from your fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account). If you have enough available funds, instead of making a payment through AdvantEdge, you can fill in and submit this Google form.

Dr. Ebert, Mr. Tafoya and the Band Boosters are committed to see that every student that wants to go on this trip is able to, regardless of financial ability. If you have concerns about being able to fund this trip for your student, please contact Dr. Ebert (brian.ebert@adams12.org) or Mr. Tafoya (trey.j.tafoya@adams12.org) to address your concerns confidentially.

AdvantEdge Tours is re-opening Ireland trip registrations for student travelers only Monday, April 15 through Friday, April 19.  If your band student wants to travel to Ireland but missed the pervious registration deadline, please go to  AdvantEdge’s travel portal website Monday morning, April 15 and click the “Go to trip” button to register. There are less than a dozen openings, so we recommend registering as early in the week as possible.  Please note that you will be asked to catch up payments, including insurance, so that your student is paid up through April; then you will need to continue monthly payments per usual.

If you wish to be a Chaperone, please contact our Chaperone Coordinators at chaperones@legacybands.org before registering.  Follower registrations (see “Can I travel with the band?” below), are currently full. We may re-open registrations for followers at a future date.

All trip payments are made using the AdvantEdge travel portal website.

If you wish to use fundraising funds (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account), you can.  Except the first payment, which will also include the insurance should you choose to use AdvantEdge’s insurance, cannot be made from fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account); you must make the first payment by credit card or ACH (bank account direct transfer).  Any and all other payments can be made from fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account) funds.  Your student’s Charms account (Student Ledger) must have available at least one full trip payment amount above the fund raising goal (FRG) in order to request a trip payment be made from your fundraising (FRG, Student Ledger, Charms account).  If you have enough available funds, instead of making a payment through AdvantEdge, you will send an email to finance@legacybands.org to let them know your student name and the payment amount, which must be at least one month’s payment – no partial month payments can be made.

FRG = Fund Raising Goal.  It is the amount that students and their parents are asked to fundraise and/or pay to fund the band program.  Our program gets very little funding through the state or district.  To run a high level band program in Colorado, it takes a lot; if at any time you are interested in just what all these funds go to, please attend a Booster Board meeting or contact any one of us on the Booster Board contact page.  Fund raising funds are tracked in a Student Ledger account in Charms, which is why you may hear FRG, Student Ledger or Charms account used interchangeably.

The FRG for the 2023-2024 school year was $650.  The Booster Board is beginning budgeting discussions and planning later in February, with a formal approval by all Boosters to be expected in March or April.  So we should know by April what the FRG will be for 2024-25.

It will be required that all students going on the Ireland trip fulfill their fundraising goal for 2024-25.

Yes you can.  There are two ways you can travel with the band:

1. As a Chaperone.  You will be like a parent to a group of about 7 students for the entirety of the trip, making sure they get from place to place, escorting them everywhere, checking on them frequently, etc.  If you are interested in this, please email our Chaperone Coordinators at chaperones@legacybands.org.  You must be an adult, you must have a current Raptor background check with Legacy High School, you must have or commit to gain experience as a Legacy Band Chaperone at football games or other events.
2. As a Follower.  Your travel will be the same as a student: you will be on one of the flights, you will be on one of the buses, your breakfasts and dinners are include, etc. – see AdvantEdge Tours’ estimated trip costs for details on what is included or not. In addition, Followers will get tickets to sit in the grandstands for the parade.  You must be an adult; or if not, you must be traveling with another Follower who is an adult.

If a Follower has made a number of trip payments but cannot go for whatever reason, can the payments made to that point be transferred to another Follower?

Yes, as long as the new Follower is 1) an adult and ok being paired up with perhaps another random Follower or 2) is a minor but is paired with an adult Follower who is already also making payments.