Freshmen Contessa Wells and Fiona Devine were accepted into the All Suburban Choir, the first freshmen to do so in years.

The performance was Saturday at Pattonville High School. While many others succeeded across multiple grades, these are the only freshmen from South to be accepted.

“Parkway South hasn’t had freshmen in the All-Suburban choir in a long time,” said Choir Director Taylor Hawkins. “I’d have to go back through the archives, but it hasn’t happened in the last 4 years at least.”

Senior choir member Bella Boewer said she is impressed that the two freshmen made it.

“Getting in as a freshman is very good, and it means that you just need to keep pushing yourself because one day you’ll be able to make it for real,” senior choir member Bella Boewer said.

Boewer is a cadet teacher for the alto section of the Freshman Treble Choir (FTC). She worked with Tessa in the alto section. 

“I honestly was not surprised that she made it in, because I knew that she could do it,” Boewer said. 

Boewer is a member of All-Suburban, and she qualified to audition as one of few for All-State, which is one step up from All-Suburban. Boewer was accepted into All-Suburban last year during her junior year.

The All-Suburban Choir group is a high-ranking choir that students west of St. Louis apply to. It has two choir groups, SSA and SATB. SSA stands for Soprano 1, Soprano 2, and Alto. This choir is also known as the Treble Choir, as it consists of a higher range of musical voices. The second group is SATB, which is Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. This choir is also called Mixed Choir, as it has baritone voices, which have a low range, and treble. 

Wells is an FTC student. She was accepted into the SATB or mixed group in All Suburban. She draws most of her music experience from vocal lessons and out-of-school musical performances at places like the Muny. She also played Lavender and was Matilda’s understudy in the Matilda musical at Spotlight Theaters. 

Wells said she is very proud of her accomplishment. 

“Definitely feels like something I shouldn’t take for granted,” she said. 

She says she didn’t expect to get accepted, so it was a huge surprise for her.

Devine also has musical experiences, mostly including theater. She does musical theater class at school and has been in countless school plays and musicals, including Matilda, Annie, and The Addams Family. She was accepted into the SSA, treble group, of All Suburban.

Devine also hopes to use this to her advantage later in her life.

“If I end up going to an arts school or something, then it would look good for that,” she said.  

Hawkins has been directing choir at South for four years. Boewer was part of his first year of students, and she credits much of her singing experience now to him.

“It wasn’t until high school that I started thinking about how to control my voice,” Boewer said, crediting Hawkins to her current skills.

Devine has a similar view of Hawkins as a teacher. 

“Mr. Hawkins has encouraged me to audition because I’m a section leader, and I think he believes I’m a really strong singer,” she said. 

Hawkins said that out of the 450 students who auditioned, only 220 were selected to participate.

The auditions were a new experience and both of the freshmen were anxious about it. 

“Honestly, I was really nervous,” Devine said. “The solo went really well, but I wasn’t so sure about the sight reading.”

The All Suburban auditions were composed into minute-long solos that they had pre-memorized, and the other part was sight-reading. The students were given a short piece to read that they had never seen or heard before, and they had to read through it and try to sing it accurately. 

Devine said she is proud to be among upperclassmen at All-Suburban. 

“It feels good because it means I have the same skills as them,” she said.  

Wells has a similar view, as she looks up to the upperclassmen as role models. 

“I want to be one of the best, and try to be as good as our cadets,” Wells said.