This Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 am, the De Soto High School choir is competing in the KSHAA Solo and Ensemble Festival at Mill Valley High School.

Twenty other schools will compete against each other, along with De Soto, in hopes to receive a number one rating to qualify for State. 

The De Soto choir has multiple choir groups based on the musical ability of each student. These classes include Choir Foundations, Wildcat Chorale/Treble Choir, and Voce. They are all competing in hopes to qualify for the State competition. 

Ryan Jenkins, a junior at DHS, is a part of the Wildcat Chorale choir and hopes that nerves will not get the best of him or his classmates.

“I am nervous to get our ratings back to see how well we did overall as a group and am making sure we put out our best effort in it,” Jenkins said. “I think we will do great on it.”

The regional competition is not only nerve-wracking, but Jenkins has never experienced an in-person choir competition like this.

Students are also expected to continue to practice outside of class. Junior Jenna Haswell, a member of Wildcat Chorale, explains the expectations for the choir.

“We’ve been working on our songs for about a month, and we are expected to practice our tracks outside of class to better prepare for our competition,” Haswell said. 

Not only has there been much preparation but some students aren’t sure what to expect at Regionals. 

“We haven’t been able to do this [Regionals] before COVID so it’s hard to say what the outcome will be. I have never been to State either,” Jenkins said. 

Haswell hopes for the best in the KSHAA event and believes confidence is key to the success of the choir.

“I hope we do well on coming in when we’re supposed to, hitting the right notes at the right time, and just overall being confident and eating a one or two rating,” Haswell said. 

Both Haswell and Jenkins hold high hopes, and De Soto students are encouraged to support the De Soto choir as they perform at the Regional festival.