One of the largest show choir competitions in the Midwest was held at Harding High School Saturday, Feb. 1. The competition, known as Singsational, put on by the Marion City School District choir programs, began at 8 a.m. and didn’t end until 11:30 p.m.
Nearly 1,100 performers, representing groups from Ohio and West Virginia, competed at the event held in the main gym.
“It’s an extreme amount of work to put it on,” said Director of Choirs Jami Rawlins of the event, in its seventh year. “It is planned year-round – we will start planning for next year’s, shortly.”
The event attracted over 2,000 spectators throughout the day, which began with competition in multiple divisions during the daytime and culminated in the finals, which featured the top six schools from earlier in the day.
The Marion choirs did not compete in the contest but spent the day as hosts around an exhibition performance.
For Rawlins, it is a family affair. Her husband, Dustin, is the volunteer assistant director who lines up other entries for the event and her parents serve as committee chairs.
“We break it down into different categories,” Jami Rawlins said. “I take care of handling the judges in the competitive side of the competition, but it takes a lot of people. We probably had well over 150 volunteers on the day of, and if you’re in show choir it’s a mandated requirement that you find people to help.”
Jo Rae Richards, a parent of a former choir member, also volunteers and helps with organization.
Sixty-five choir members worked throughout the day of the event and learned a lot about seeing hard work pay off in the form of funding the program.
“It’s really good for the kids and financially it’s what keeps our program going so it’s a really great event,” said Jami Rawlins. “The kids are representing Marion City Schools to the highest degree. The expectation of putting in hard work, arriving at 6 a.m. and knowing they won’t leave until 2 a.m. the following morning.
“They learn a lot about organization, helping prep and working all day setting things up and they learn about how a huge event works.”
Jami Rawlins makes it a point to explain to her students how fortunate they are to have so many volunteers – some without students currently enrolled in the program – and asks them to consciously pay it forward in the future.
As for the level of competition, the school districts represented, while varied in size, are some of the best.
“The choir programs that were here often compete at show choir nationals and are ranked really high,” Jami Rawlins explained. “It’s a high-quality show choir competition that our spectators got to see. A lot of the groups that came are the ones who are winning the majority of competitions they attend.”
“This was a wonderful opportunity for our Harding students to take a leadership role in staging this outstanding competition,” Superintendent Dr. Ron Iarussi said. “The entire music department, including our music boosters, worked tirelessly to host this outstanding event that showcased high school musical talent. Our own show choir performed brilliantly. Kudos to Jami Rawlins and the Harding Show Choir!"