On March 15, 2025 five Spring Grove students were given the beautiful blessed opportunity to have a performance with 19 other incredibly gifted students at Dallastown Area Intermediate. Of these students was Amelia Messinger (Grade 10), Bryan Myers (Grade 10), Benjamin Thatcher (Grade 10), Kaylee Mejia (Grade 12), and Lucas Buhrman (Grade 12). After months of individual rehearsals the students finally met and came together for an amazing concert directed by the amazing Alyssa Allgood.
“I had 1 lyric and 1 scatting solo; my favorite song was Painted on Canvas;
others should try out for vocal jazz because the festival experience is awesome.
Also, it gives people the opportunity to sing in a style
that they might not otherwise get to try out. “- Lucas Buhrman
Earlier this year students travel from all over District VII schools to audition for PMEA Vocal Jazz. Students were rated anonymously on a scale from 0-50 in 4 sections over 2 categories, singing a jazz song and scatting. Despite the thorough and talented competition all five of our students made the top five for each of their respective sections. Students who were accepted were then gifted a folder of five songs for them to learn individually.
Through Spring Grove’s own Mrs. Kirkpatrick’s guidance students were able to learn the pieces in a fun manner in preference for their one and only rehearsal on March 14, 2025. This rehearsal was 12 hours long at Dallastown Area Intermediate. This rehearsal allowed students to introduce themselves to one another, adjust their singing to mics, fix any wonky pieces and audition for solos. Once solo auditions were over Spring Grove was pleased to have Benjamin Thatcher with 1 solo, Amelia Messinger with 3 solos with two , Kaylee Mejia with 2 solos and Lucas Burhman with 2 solos.
My favorite song to sing was Painted On Canvas,
i think people should try out because its a fun experience to get
to meet all these knew people with such talent! – Amelia Messinger
Our talented students were given a green and white PMEA pin, many new friends and even more amazing tips on how to improve. Hope to see you for our next PMEA Festival.
