“Traditions, in general, are something that get people excited,” choir director Nick Franssen said. “They create the culture right as you want it, and that’s what we want to do.”
During most school years, the choir performed their Christmas concert as well as a condensed school version. For this school year, Franssen switched out the school concert for a paid Christmas variety show in order to create a new tradition
“We do something big and showy for the spring concert, and we don’t have any options like that for first semester,” Franssen said.
One of the reasons that this Christmas concert was different was the inclusion of special acts, such as solos or small group acts, which choir students, such as sophomore Jaiden Means, auditioned to perform.
“I auditioned for my special act with a friend,” Means said. “I decided to audition because I love singing, and I want to get over my stage fright.”
A huge difference, as well as the reason for tickets having a cost, is that the concert will take place in the Augusta Theater, and not the school.
“I liked the idea of hosting the concert outside of school grounds to bring more community attention,” Franssen said. “Since we’re using a venue, there’s going to have to be a price, and since we want to also use this as a fundraiser, we have to earn money for ourselves and the theater.”
Franssen hopes to use the concert to raise funds for the choir department as well as the drama department, while also raising money for the Augusta theater, but that comes at a cost.
“I don’t know if people will come to support us solely because the prices are very high,” senior Pashence Adkins said. “Not many people outside of parents want to pay around $20 to see a concert when they could have seen a free one at the school just a few days before.”
