Campion's select choir mentors young singers

This weekend, fifth through eighth grade students from local Adventist schools got on stage alongside Koinonia members in the return of Campion Academy’s Music Festival. Under the direction of Campion’s Music Director, Yves Clouzet, the group spent the school day Friday learning new songs and preparing for their performance for Sabbath’s church service.

While the children got to experience performing in a larger choir, students from Campion got to experience mentoring children. Blessing Simamora, senior, says; “I loved working with the kids and singing with them. Music fest required a lot of dedication and hard work from both Campion students and the kids but I’m glad our performance turned out great.” 

The children were able to learn valuable lessons about music and singing in harmony in a choir; a first for many of them due to the pandemic. Zachary, sixth grade student at HMS Richards Adventist School, commented, “The hardest part was learning to sing Jubilate Deo because we had to learn to sing all the Latin vowels correctly and to sing different notes and parts at the same time. I had never done that before, but I just listened to Brayan and Melody (Campion students) and followed what they were singing.”  

While this year’s music festival was limited to local schools, Campion Academy’s Music Department will take to the road in April and provide an intensive workshop at Intermountain Adventist Academy in Grand Junction. 

The annual music festival was one of the many casualties of COVID last year, and choir performances have been some of the most restricted activities throughout the pandemic. While this year’s festival was small compared to previous years, it was another sign of the return to pre-pandemic norms. For the first time in the past two years, the choir was able to perform without the requirement of face masks. 

Elizabeth Jureckova, Student News Team