Following an intense competition, 88 Pearland Independent School District students from all four Pearland junior high schools won places in the all-region choir during the Texas Music Educators Association Region 19 auditions on October 13 and 14.
“I am absolutely thrilled at the quality of our junior high choirs,” Tom Bell, Pearland ISD Director of Fine Arts, said. “It all starts with great instruction from very talented and dedicated directors and ends with hard-working students pushing themselves to become a little better every day.”
The four Pearland ISD junior high choirs have much to be proud of when it comes to their very talented and dedicated students.
“All of the students in the region receive the same pieces of music at the beginning of the school year. Each choir director has their own unique method of teaching the music but common practices are to work on the music in class, perform the music at their fall concert, work on it with their private lesson teacher, after school sectionals, etc. But mostly, the students have to spend time on their own developing the vocal skills needed to perform the pieces,” Bell said.
Participating in the auditions not only allows singers to qualify for the all-region choir but also empowers them with life-long skills.
“Since this is an individual activity, all students become better musicians by going through the process, regardless if they make it or not. Beyond that, they learn how to work on a long-term project that concludes with them performing, by themselves, in front of their peers and judges. Time management and organizational skills, perseverance, and grit are also developed by going through the region audition process,” Bell said.
Pearland junior high students who won spots in the all-region choir include:
Miller: Naomi Bisrat, Brittyn Bland, Daniel Boster, Joshua Cordes, Caelyn Cuello, Omkar Dasgupta, Jaydah Davis, Megan Del Rio, Ethan George, Kaden Hilahan, Jackson Hitt, Samuel Homan, Azraf Khan, Gage Lively, Paxton Lloyd, Claire Moore, Yaretzi Munoz, Elizabeth Murz, Sabella Ndukwu, Liliana Olivarez, Samantha Pham, Gabrielle Quintayo and Boston Willis.
West: Elizabeth Cline, Drew Daniel, Mallory Davis, Chase Davison, Camille Debban, Aahana Duggal, London Edeker, John Fernandez, Meredith Ferrington, Emily Granados, Emily Holloway, Paige Houston, Neo Huynh, Sarah Jacob, Emily Jurek, Zaara Khan, Kate Klayman, Evan Mills, Kennedy Mosley, Natalie Mull, Andrew Nguyen, Kali Nutt, Omar Olmedo, Arya Patel, Aidan Robinson, Janvi Shah, Kennedy Smith, Riley Strother, Harper Sundberg, Shreshta Thokala, Sebastian Villanueva, Yuechen Wang and Aubrey Wharton.
East: AnnMarie Barcelona, Trulia Burcham, Jaylen Clark, Anberlyn Gafford, Keala Garcia, Alyvia Haecker, Conall Hegarty, Chadrick Journet, Jaclyn Liggett, Esmae Macneish, Jennie Mancuso, Julianna Martinez, Owen McGuire, Abigail Ogbajie, Ethan Richardson, Anietie Udoh and
Ekemini Udoh.
South: Jessica Allen, Sydney Brown, Macy Collins, Kolten Cutler, Jaelyn Foster, Joshua Garza, Sofia Gonzalez Montiel, Lyla Morris, Mikayla Nelson, Robert Liam Olveda, Gregory Parra, Ike Patino, Lilyana Saldivar, Gavin Salter and Thomson Vo.
