Premiere Advances Into Finals at DCG

This was the first time Atlantic Premiere had made finals in 15 years.  Congratulations to the Premiere show choir!

This was the first time Atlantic Premiere had made finals in 15 years. Congratulations to the Premiere show choir!

by Corgan Petersen

Many emotions were flowing at Dallas Center Grimes High School on Saturday.  DCG held their annual show choir competition on Jan, 24.   Atlantic High School took both the Premiere and Diversity show choirs to compete.  This was an emotional competition for many of the seniors, as it was the first competition they went to as freshmen and would be the last time performing at DCG.

Senior Halee Glenn said, “You know, it was bittersweet.  DCG is special to every senior I think because it is the only huge competition you go to as a freshman.  DCG is the only one you go to four times.  It was sad to be there for the last time.”

Diversity was the first to compete for Atlantic.  They placed third in the prep group division.  Premiere was the first 3A group to perform after the judges took a lunch break.  Premiere competed against the show choirs from Pella High School and Bishop Heelan High School.   Premiere received third place in the 3A division.

Sophomore Sam Coder said, “I thought it was a really fun competition.  It was a really nice experience to do show choir with Premiere since a lot of my friends were in Premiere and I haven’t done show choir since middle school.  I don’t think we could’ve performed any better under the circumstance.  We all clicked together at the very moment and did our very best.  And we made Ben cry.”

This show choir competition features a finals section which takes the top five scoring show choirs throughout the day from any division: Prep, 1A, 2A, and 3A.  They announce these results at the end of the first awards ceremony.  Even though Premiere placed third in 3A, hopes were still high that they could make finals.

Sophomore Austin Mwalia said, “I was actually really surprised when we made finals.  At first I felt really sad, I put my head down because I thought we had lost and we were just going to go home.  Turns out we actually made it, and I jumped up with excitement.  I was very surprised and proud of us.  I think that was the best we ever did.”

The hosts from DCG place the top five show choirs into a bowl and draw the performance order, and the first name drawn was Atlantic Premiere.  The Premiere students jumped from their seats and yelled with joy.  This was the first time Atlantic Premiere had made finals in 15 years.   Atlantic went on to perform at finals and received fifth place, along with many compliments and comments about great progress from former Atlantic choir teacher Dennis Hendrickson, who was a judge at the competition.

Congratulations to both the Diversity and Premiere show choirs!