A bus filled with sleep-deprived kids rumbled its way into the RBHS parking lot at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 4. The precious cargo of show choir students on board had just returned from their competition in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The trip began 12:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1 when the students left their 3rd period class to take a six-hour bus ride to Iowa. Once in the Hawkeye state, they stayed in a hotel for the night and headed to the competition the next day at the Lewis-Central middle school.
Satin N’ Lace, the women’s choir, performed first in the unisex division. This division was separate from the large divison, which thus made Satin N’ Lace ineligible for finals. Nevertheless, their performance was not in vain; the choir took home the first place trophy for their division.
City Lights gave their performance later in the afternoon, and during the preliminary round, both choirs received the Gary Fiscus Family Sportsmanship award for their kindly conduct and hard work. Before the awards ceremony was officially over, many of the students were anticipating the trip home even though they were excited about their accolade, senior show choir member Ellen Thieme said.
However, right when they were preparing the exit the gym, the announcer told the audience that the last choir to perform at finals would be Rock Bridge City Lights.
Bouncing up and down with glee, the kids made their way back to homeroom and prepared for their second performance. Once they got on stage, it was all fun and no regrets. Thieme came running off saying it was “the most fun I’ve ever had onstage in my life.”
When the choirs finally made their way onto the bus, they carried with them a sixth place trophy, a huge accomplishment in such a competitive atmosphere as Iowa. This was the choir’s last competition of the year, and many seniors came away from the show with an extra dose of bittersweet.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet [that it’s over],” Thieme said. “But it was such an amazing day. I loved just seeing everyone’s faces as we were performing, and the fact that we got the best sportsmanship award was honestly so incredible — which sounds really cheesy, but it was. Because it was a recognition of our character. When we’re 60 years old, we might not be friends, we might not be able to dance, but we’re still going to need character. We’ll want to be good people and have the ability to be kind to others.”
By Lauren Puckett