NC Honors Chorus

For the first time in all of Wakefield high school history, three students have been accepted into the North Carolina Honors Chorus in one year alone.

The North Carolina Honors Chorus is an extremely prestigious position for any high school chorus member to hold, given the immense challenge which applicants face when applying for acceptance. It is considered a rarity when a school has a single NC Honors Chorus student, let alone three.

In order to be accepted into the NC honors chorus, each person had to sing in front of a panel of judges, who were adept at picking out small imperfections that most people would never notice. Each honors chorus hopeful had to sing the song “How do I love thee” by Eric Nelson, a difficult piece which is supposed to highlight each applicant’s vocal skill set. Each school can bring no more than 10% of the total chorus students that they have enrolled to the audition. However, that does not mean that the full number will be taken; only the best the school has to offer will get the opportunity to join. Being accepted into the NC Honors Chorus is the highest honor a North Carolina chorus student can earn.

This year, Wakefield had a total of three applicants accepted into the honors chorus; juniors Kayla Pierce and Natalie Collier , and senior Katherine Sumner. Natalie was accepted into Governors school for chorus as well, which is an impressive accolade by itself. Before this year,  there had only been a total of nine students accepted from Wakefield high school. One of these students was Kayla Pierce, who is on her second consecutive year of acceptance. All of the girls were extremely excited to learn of their acceptance. Collaboratively, the girls said,  “ We all kind of jumped up and down, and then we called our parents.”

The girls were especially excited after Mr. Mullinax tricked them into thinking that they had not been accepted.

Originally, the girls were drawn towards chorus for different reasons. Kayla Pierce began chorus due to her grandpa. She said,” My grandpa loved music , and he started when he was only ten, so he kind of talked me into it.” Collier, on the other hand, started due to her family, who have always had a passion for music. Natalie joined due to her family’s love for music, and her prior skill with the piano and the violin. Each girl grew to love chorus.

In light of their recent successes, they are beginning to look towards the future. Each girl has already received a scholarship offer to Wingate University, due to their skill in music, but not all of them are sure that music is what they want to pursue. Pierce wants to major in music, and hopes to one day be able to perform her music for others. Katherine also plans to major in music, and hopes to go to Temple University; specifically , she wants to study music education. Collier says that music will always be a passion of hers, but she wants to pursue a pre-medical degree.

Although each girl has different aspirations, they all agree on one thing; chorus is like family. High school only last four years, but the bonds which people make through music can last a lifetime.