Picture screaming students, matching shirts, waves of hands high in the air as another award is announced, and dancing Disney characters cheering that we must follow our dreams. It was Saturday, April 29th, and the BUHS Jazz and Concert Bands, plus the Regular and Honor Choirs were in full swing ready to cheer their classmates on. Our throats were full of excited screams as one award came after another, giving us places we worked so hard to deserve.

The entire night was bittersweet for us Choir members. As time went on and the awards were handed out, the sudden reality that our program had reached its near end, the peak of our year, had arrived and gone. There was no way of mending the wound we have constantly fought to close, but even after we received our high honors, we were struck with a sense of conflicted feelings.

The Jazz Band won first place in the Single A High School Jazz Band category, which was the first award our school received all night. We were ecstatic to hear the name of our school, Bishop Union High School, followed by a mind-boggling, whimsical first place! Our section in the stands went wild, and as Emily Ball and Kai Castilla walked the stage to receive the award, our minds settled on the idea, that our small school won first.

And the same happened for the rest of the awards. A first place, rating of excellent, for the Single A High School Concert Band category. The feeling itself, of winning first, came and went once again. It was a wave of pressure we didn’t know we had been carrying, swept right off our shoulders. But, however excited we became for band, the real pressure was radiating from the Choir. Will we persevere in our last year, or, will we instead just settle for a placing that won’t go out with a bang?

Suddenly, the awards shifted from bands to vocal groups. The pressure was on, and I felt myself go quiet every time a category came about, a category we didn’t fit in. My stomach churned with nerves, and my mind bounced from mess-up to mess-up I thought I made during our performance with Honor Choir. That note I didn’t hit, could it cost us the first? Thoughts like these were scattered throughout my brain, pushing to the front, until finally one we recognized appeared.

Single A High School Mixed Choir, that’s us, isn’t it? However, regular choir was placed into another category as Honor Choir, in order to ensure that we weren’t going up against each other. Little by little, the tension grew, until finally, the words came flowing from the announcer’s lips like music to our harmony-tuned ears. A first place handed to our Regular Choir. A loud roar from our classmates, and excitement boiling within us.

Then, Honor Choir came up. I felt that my head would burst into flames at any moment from all the excitement. Had it all paid off? All those nights I stayed up late doing my homework while simultaneously listening to all my parts? How long had we waited for this? Had all the hours spent at board meetings fighting been just to land a lousy score?

First place, rating of excellent.

And for a moment, all felt at bliss. Hands flying up in the air, we stood onto our feet and cheered like crazy. It had dawned on me that it wasn’t the end of the year, but the end of an era of Choir. It wasn’t just a goodbye until next year, but at that moment, it would be the last time we heard our name followed by choir,  followed by first place, followed by rating of excellent.