Sheldon, Iowa — In 2017, Brandon Lenderink became the Sheldon High School choir director. Since then he and the school have accumulated numerous awards for both the Orab Show and Jazz choirs.
Some awards the Show Choir has won, at their many competitions, are 1st place in Hinton, 2nd place at the University of South Dakota and a 3rd place in Estherville . The jazz choir has done well too! They were crowned 2nd at the Jazz Championship in 2018. They also got 2nd place in Emmetsburg in 2018.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, there was just one competition for these groups during the 2019-2020 school year, before the pandemic canceled the balance of their season. Competition season for the groups runs during the months of February and March each year.
Assuming COVID doesn’t prevent this school year’s competitions, Lenderink says the groups should have state show and jazz, and all the competitions including Emmetsburg, Estherville, USD, and Hinton, in person. He says if are not able to perform in person there has been speculation about doing the performances online.
But, he says, everyone would love to be in the audience watching and listening to these great performances and so would the kids. Lenderink says they hope to be able to compete this season and not have it canceled.
He also says this year’s show choir is very special because, in his words, “We are doing an 80’s theme in our music and costuming. We are as well bringing back costume changes during the performance. We hope that the audience will like and connect to many of these songs.”
Story by KIWA Intern and Sheldon High School Senior Ryer Dacken
