Several competitions over the year have led Marshfield’s concert choir to compete in the OSAA state competition. The group will leave today for George Fox University in Portland and the event will be held tomorrow. The choir started its season at the Douglas Invitational in Roseburg and more recently claimed the district championship.

According to senior choir Vice President Sierra Pedro, her hopes are to exceed the state scores from her freshman year. Since then, Marshfield has not been back to the state competition.

“We got seventh place my freshman year,” Pedro said. “I definitely want to beat that.”

At the district competition, the choir’s performance was scored by three judges, with scores ranging from zero to 100. From there, the first place choir automatically places in the state competition and the remaining choirs are placed into a tape pool. The judges then listen to the performances and review the scores to make a final decision. Only 12 choirs state-wide were selected from the tape pool to attend the state competition.

Originally, Marshfield landed in second place, but moved into first place due to Siuslaw’s choir being disqualified after they allowed more than two students who were failing a class to perform. Since the district competition is an OSAA event, Siuslaw was revoked of its first place title.

Senior choir President Quentin Kirk said he is hopeful for the state competition. He also said he looks forward to the choir learning more and improving its performances on stage.

“My hopes are just that we’re going to be able to share some good music, listen to some good music and learn what we can,” Kirk said.

According to Kirk, the season has gone well so far, even with the differences that came with a first-year teacher. He attributes this to strong senior leadership in each section.

“We’ve learned to adjust to new teachers and work with what we have,” Kirk said. “I think that’s paid off.”

According to Pedro, the choir program has improved over the past few years by gaining knowledge from prior competitions and using it in their next performance.

Despite the recent change in directors, the program continues to exceed. This year in particular, the community has shown more interest and support for the choir. According to choir and drama teacher Allison Bassett, people have been really involved and enthusiastic.

“My expectations for next year are just that they continue to excel and get better,” Bassett said. “The program has grown a lot this year.”