On May 2, choir traveled to Columbia, Mo to visit the University of Missouri Campus and participate in the annual state competition. 16 students attended state competition after having remarkable results in districts back in March. Students competed in either solo or ensemble, solo being performing by yourself and an ensemble can range from quartet and double quartet to mixed boy and girl or just ladies or just men. From the group, six students performed solos and them and the other students were also part of at least one ensemble.

“It’s pretty stressful,” choir member Marissa Meyers said. “If you’re in an ensemble, not only do you have a weight on your own soldiers but you’re also trying to get the other people around you to blend well and have tall vowels and especially if you advance you have to work on it more and more in order to sound better than you did at districts.”

At competition, students are scored from a scale of one to five, one being a superior rating and five a poor rating. After competing at district, the preparation for state consisted in going back and improving your performance by looking at the judge’s comments sheets. Audrianna Bartholomew and Marissa Meyers’ solos and the ladies double quartet were the three performances to get awarded superior ratings.

“It was a lot better than other years just because I knew the people better and everyone got along really well,” Dakota Turnbull said. “It was just not only a choir competition but also a bonding time for us.”

During the choir banquet on May 15 students will receive their medals depending on the results they got at state. The students who got a superior will also be able to perform at the spring concert on May 11.

“It’s always a great learning experience for students to get feedback from somebody else,” choir teacher Lorraine Smith said. “There’s definitely a fun element to it, we go down the night before and hang out at Mizzou’s campus and at the hotel. And just the preparation process, there’s music things to be learned and performance skills that they gain by being in front of a judge and an audience.”

Andrew Leonard

Ethan Elliot

Justin Stoker

Andrew Stoker

Courtney Lauer 2

Anna Juhlin 2

Rachel Juhlin 3

Lauren Tenenbaum 2

Sydney Dattilo

Jillian  Strickland

Marissa Meyers 1

Audrianna Bartholomew 1

Dakota Turnbull

Emma Hale

Jordan Short

Maya Kelch