KMEA All District Honor Ensemble selections announced

Tristan Allen, Reporter

The Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA) released their selections for the All District Honor Ensembles, and 29 students from Olathe South were selected.

The students selected to the KMEA All District Honor Band include Jill Dwyer, Noelle Schlenk, Andrew Oberholtzer, Anna Ross, Hank Lancaster, Kathryn Lundquist, Trinity Wong Emanuel Okuone, seniors; Jeremy Kuehnen, Jenna Stokes, Flynn Hemenway, Mikayla Boyd, juniors; Bryan Johnson, Olivia Massey and Whitney Schweiger, sophomores.

Students selected to the KMEA All District Honor Choir include Ashlynne Bowles, Chandler Patrick, Gabby Russell, Brittany Taylor, Catie Walker and Sydney Wolsleger and Jonathan Simmons, seniors; Chayston Simmons, junior; and Jacob Berezowski, sophomore.

Students selected to the KMEA All District Honor Orchestra include Emilie Giles, Nathan Erickson, seniors; Mara Gee and Caroline Shipley, juniors.

Each person listed had to audition in November, where they were evaluated on the spot, according to Elise Peterson, choir teacher and director of the northeast district for KMEA. Olathe is located in the northeast district.

Being selected was not an easy task. Students were only selected if the judges felt they were qualified, as opposed to simply choosing the best and trying to fill in spots.

“You have to audition to audition,” Peterson said about the large volume of highly talented individuals in the northeast district. Peterson also described the district as highly competitive.

Peterson had no involvement with selecting individuals.

In February, student representatives from every district will meet in Wichita, where they will spend 18 hours rehearsing with clinicians for an All-State concert.