More than 100 students from 23 area high schools were accepted into the Northeast Community College HAWKFEST.
HAWKFEST is an annual honor band and honor choir festival hosted in the Lifelong Learning Center. Students audition for the opportunity to make music in a new environment. They spend an intense day of rehearsal culminating in an early evening concert.
The honor choir performed several selections including a traditional Lakota lullaby.
“A goal of the festival is to provide not only growth of the students’ musicianship, but to become aware of the rich heritage of cultural ideas embedded in the variety of musical literature,” said Margaret Schultz, choir director. “‘Chante Waste Hoksila’ is such a piece, in that the students will be singing in the Lakota language. Lakota is focused on community and an acknowledgement of neighbors and family members. It is dedicated to the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.”
The honor band also performed several selections that included a descrip- tive piece about an incident during World War II. The final selection of the evening included the choir, band, and the directors performing “Thank You Soldiers” together.
“I think it’s great to get these young musicians together,” said Kevin McLouth, band director. “Usually they are ‘rivals’ from different schools, but here they get to work together to make something beautiful.”
Among the performers in the honor band were four Osmond High School students, Dawson Gansebom, Donovan Heiman, Jack Berg and Kooper Gubbels.
