The crowd goes wild just as the last note is hit, they stand up, the applause lasts for an easy five minutes. A beaming Dr. Scott Kizner, superintendent of the Harrisonburg City Public Schools, makes his way to the microphone at the front of the stage and says,

“Do I have the best choir or what?”

Apparently, the crowd agrees, because shouts of “Encore!” and “Again, again!” echo through the school board members. Director Bethany Houff pauses, before laughing and saying that the choir doesn’t have an encore.

“It was fun having to travel somewhere that people wanted us so sing. When they called for another song it was cool that they actually liked us that much [and] that they wanted more,” senior Lilly Evans-Haywood said.

The Harrisonburg High School Honors Choir made their way to Williamsburg on Wednesday, November 19th. They drove the lengthy three hours to sing a set that lasted no more than fifteen minutes, at the request of the VSBA (Virginia School Boards Association). They were dismissed from school for the day, leaving at around eight in the morning and returning at 5:30 in the afternoon.

All of the arrangements performed by the choir were done entirely a capella, since there was no piano made available to them during the performance. Those who requested them to sing didn’t want any slow songs out of fear of boredom, so the choir chose mostly quick, exciting pieces.The program they chose included the National Anthem (sung, of course, in six part harmony), Bonse Aba with soloists Rachel Cavoto, Chloe Richard, Andy King and Noah Heie playing drums, Hope is the Thing With Feathers, and the HHS a cappella group’s arrangement of The Dog Days are Over with main soloist Isabelle Burden and backup vocals from Ellie Plass and Laura Ruple.

Senior Rachel Cavoto was one of the soloists for Bonse Aba.

“It was cool [to sing a solo] because all of the lights were on so you could see everyone’s face and that they were definitely enjoying it,” Cavoto said. “I really enjoyed being in a situation where we could share one of the best things our school has to offer.”

Being asked to provide entertainment for the conference is a rare honor for the Harrisonburg High School Choir.

“Our school’s fine arts programs are so developed and supported. This gave other school districts to see what can happen when you support the arts,” Cavoto said.