On Oct 3, 14 OHS choir students travelled to the All-Suburban and Women’s choir auditions. Out of these 14, 13 students made the cut, and six were made eligible to audition for the All-State choir.

To audition for these two honor choirs, students had to memorize and sing a solo piece which they practiced for a couple weeks and perform a sight-reading test in front of a panel of judges. The songs for Women’s choir and All-Suburban were different and each individual’s solo varied based on their voice part.

Women’s Honor Choir members are: Morgan Allen (9), Audrey Chopin (10), Bekah Mayfield (11), Emily Ratcliff (12), and Kristen Steinbrueck (12). All-Suburban students include: Alec Boeschen (12), Rachel Eschbacher (11), Ronni Jones (11), Bryan Kuchno (11), Alec Lininger (11), Shannon McFarland (12), Noah Thompson (11), and Dan Throm (12). Boeschen, Jones, Kuchno, Lininger, Thompson, and Mcfarland were in the top 20 people in their sections and get to move on to auditions for All-State choir.

Once the top 20 audition, the top four from each section will be picked to be members of the State choir. Jones is both excited and nervous for her all-state audition.

“I’m just honored to be in the top 20,” Jones said, “I won’t be mad if I don’t make it in the top four.” Other choir students agree, and even Mrs. Chelsea Ayres, choir and music appreciation teacher, thought her students did amazing by making it as far as they did.

McFarland, who is looking for redemption in this year’s audition after missing it last year due to sickness, thinks that the outcome of the auditions is a combination of the teacher’s and student’s work.

“I think both the teachers push us, but us students have a lot of drive and motivation and worked really hard to get where we are,” McFarland said, “We don’t just practice inside school, we stay after and people even practiced at home.”

No matter the outcome of All-State auditions, choir students at OHS are making a name for themselves and their school.