On Aug. 13 every student and teacher at OHS gathered in Gym A for the back to school assembly. As the flag was lowered in preparation for the singing of the national anthem, one student took the mic and began to sing.

Ronni Jones (11) sang the National Anthem as a solo during this assembly and Alec Boeschen (12) sang during the Fall Pep Assembly on Friday Sept 25. Both are members of CCM and MADS at OHS and both were very caught off guard with the news that they would be singing in front of the whole school.

“Basically, [Mr. Wegener] came up to me two days before and said you are going to sing at the assembly,” Jones said.

Choir teacher, Mr. Michael Wegener, hadn’t had enough time to prepare a group to sing, so he turned to students he knew could “handle the pressure”.

Boeschen had even less preparation time than Jones, as he was told the day of the assembly that he would be singing. He practiced the song four or five times and was “extremely nervous”. Both found the performance challenging. According to Jones, since it was sung acappella, she had to “pull the note out of thin air”.

Although the students felt their final performances could have been better, Mr. Wegener was proud of them both.

“[Doing this] gives students the opportunity to overcomes fears,” he said. “It is good for them.”

Even though they felt both their singing and their bodies were shaky throughout the assemblies, Jones and Boeschen had people congratulating them throughout the day. Some people even confused Tori Jones (9) for her sister and told her good job instead.

As for singing at an assembly in the future, Mr. Wegener wants to be able to mix things up. Jones has already sang at a volleyball game and Boeschen thinks singing again would be easier.

“I’ll probably sing again and won’t be as nervous because I got good feedback the first time,” he said.

Suffice to say, the next assembly’s national anthem could hold lots of surprises.