Ana Segawa – Loveland, Colorado … Campion’s campus was filled, March 31, with new voices as the Rocky Mountain Music Festival began. Middle schoolers from nine different schools came together to form a single choir of 120 students.
Dr. William Chunestudy led the rehearsals in the chapel on Friday morning with students separated into two sections based on their voice parts. The members of Koinonia, Campion’s select choir, were present at all rehearsals to support the students with their pieces. Besides the practices, the participants attended breakout sessions including art projects, games, soccer, and gymnastics.
During Friday night vespers, the high school students from Campion and Mile High Academy came together to perform several pieces. In addition, both schools’ select choirs performed separately. A total of eight pieces were presented on Saturday, April 1, morning and evening.
Sabbath’s church service took place in the gym, where the combined choir performed two songs. Campion Church Pastor Leandro Bizama was the speaker for the weekend events. After the service, the students took part in an outreach activity planned by Campion Church, including distributing cookies and handing out invitations for the Journey to the Cross Easter program. The choir participants had a chance to showcase their talents and hard work in their final performance on Saturday night.
Natalie, a student from HMS Richards School and a soloist in the festival, shared, “[I enjoyed] being able to learn new things from Dr. C and making more friends from other schools. It was a lot of singing and my throat was sore, but it was a good learning experience.”
Cecilia Simmons, Campion’s Music Director commented, “Listen, we put over 100 squirrely prepubescent kids into a room and asked one man to teach them eight songs in two days. Either we were crazy or our festival clinician, Dr. Chunestudy, is a miracle worker. What he did with those kids in such a short period of time was phenomenal. The final concert was a celebration of their hard work and belief in everything he taught them. Just like he said, it was a circle of giving between the festival choir, the audience, and the director.”
Click here to view the recorded performances on Campion’s Facebook page.
—Ana Segawa, Campion Student News Team. Photos supplied.
