Carbon High School’s Junior Riley Palmer has been given the opportunity to perform this summer with The Utah Battalion DCI. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Riley and his mother, Asheley Herrera to get all the details of this wonderful opportunity.

“So it started with me just like kind of watching these YouTube videos and seeing how cool it would be to be apart of this sort of thing. I was really thinking if I’m good enough, I could audition, and maybe make it on to something like that. It was just something that was going on the back of my mind at all times, just thinking I could be a part of this band and tour the country that would be one of the greatest experiences of my life because I love to do band and it would just be amazing,” stated Palmer. He auditioned for The Utah Battalion DCI, was accepted to be a part of the band. Palmer is an amazing musician in his own right not only does he play the trumpet but he can also play 28 other different instruments.

This musical adventure will take Palmer all over the United States this summer so right now he is trying to earn money to help with his expenses. When Palmer first approached his mother about trying out for The Utah Battalion DCI she was very concerned financially. “Because the cost is something I really needed to know about so that way we could plan for it, do all of those kinds of things. When he told me how much it cost that was my first concern. Because the cost of it is $4,200.00 to get in there, plus the flight back home. Even though the $4,200.00 covers everything to his tuition, cost of like transportation, food and everything else that included in that it doesn’t cover all the costs of everything while he’s gone,” said Herrera. They are somewhat under the gun as Riley will be leaving for this experience the beginning of the summer and he will be gone till the end of Aug.

If you would like to help Riley with this once in lifetime musical opportunity, he has set up a couple of options to help him financially. “So we have a GoFundMe set up and we also have a Venmo so people can go find those on my mom’s Facebook page which is Ashley Herrera and they’ll be able to find those and be able to donate,” said Palmer. He appreciates those that have already donated and looks forward to representing his community this summer while out on tour with The Utah Battalion DCI.