The year delivered a number of changes but that didn’t affect organizations in any way as they adapted to all the new circumstances. Many of the organizations that were able to overcome this, such as band and orchestra, proceeded to gain sweepstakes. The choir specifically was able to show their tenacity with the COVID precautions with the results of what they received at the UIL event.

“This year brought a very different level of struggles and obstacles to overcome some of those being consistent attendance of each choir, working with new health and safety protocols, and making up for the loss in learning that occurred going into this year,” choir director Daniel Miner said. “Fortunately, UIL was able to adapt some of the processes and rules to be more practical for us this year and our students adapted with it with ease and grace.”

As they were able to adjust to the changes brought forth from COVID, many of the students had thoughts on how it may have affected their ability to sing or participate in certain events. However, students demonstrated their abilities to the fullest capacity and did well. And while it was the first time for some, many of the upperclassmen were able to manage and help other students as well.

 “For our most dedicated choir students, UIL Concert and Sightreading is a very monumental performance in the school year because they work on difficult music and rehearse it until it meets the high level of expectation set forth,” Miner said. “To be able to take that music off-campus and share it with judges from all over the state is a very emotional and musically-rewarding experience, especially for our seniors.”

Students put effort into making the best out of the circumstances and exhibited their work by getting the highest rating for UIL competitions. The students were proud and satisfied with the results of their labor in preparing the entire semester for the event. Given the obstacles they had to face, they persevered and displayed great discipline in their preparation.

“We gave each group extremely difficult music to learn and the groups all accepted the challenge, buckled down, and worked to deliver excellent performances that also received perfect scores from all judges,” Miner said. “Each of the groups brought home a ‘Sweepstakes’ trophy which means their average score in both Concert and Sight Reading portion was a ‘I’ rating which makes us so proud of them!”

The choir demonstrated how their diligent effort and dedication to preparing was able to give the results they wanted and have the satisfaction of knowing that what you did was good. The students will prepare even harder for next year to continue to deliver and receive great results.