Chloe White
On Monday, May 9, the Jennings County High School and Jennings County Middle School orchestras had their final concert of the year.
Appropriately dubbed “countywide,” the concert featured a performance from the seventh-grade beginning orchestra, eighth-grade advanced orchestra, JCHS string orchestra, and the JCHS chamber orchestra.
The performance was followed by an awards ceremony recognizing hard-working individuals in the music department.
Three awards were presented. The first was to Addelynn Herche, an eighth-grade student at Jennings County Middle School, who was presented with the Director’s Choice Award for her work ethic and her approach to music in class.
The second award presented was the National Orchestra Award. Normally this is an award presented to one person, but this year Chris Billings, director of both the JCHS and JCMS orchestras, decided that there were two students deserving of this award.
Audrey Redmond received the award in addition to Susan Davis. Audrey and Susan are both students ranked in the top 20 of their senior class in addition to participating in music groups outside of class.
The last award is given in honor of a former orchestra student named Martha Vogel. Martha was a student who was always willing to lend a hand to her peers and always strived to be kind and helpful.
These traits resonated in Senior Alexis Collier, who received this award in honor of the former student.
Billings spoke of the dedication the students have for music and encouraged younger students to join the department. “It’s a great place to find like-minded people and to make lasting friendships,” he said.
Chloe White is a student at Jennings County High School. Send comments to [email protected].
