Over 100 former students, current students, faculty and staff gathered April 29 in the unofficial rehearsal space for the Southwest Junior High School Choir, the 500s hallway.
The event brought together alumni and choral directors from the past three decades to hear choral music performed one last time in the acoustically live space.
The 500s building will be demolished at the end of the 2021-22 school year, and construction of the new Southwest Junior High School will begin over the summer.
Since the choir room at Southwest is stepped and not flat, the 500s hallway is used as a rehearsal space for choirs preparing for their performances on choral risers.
Over the decades, choirs from Southwest have not only prepared for their local seasonal concerts in the space, but have also prepared for All State, Regional ACDA and two National ACDA performances in the 500s hallway.
Attendees traded songs and stories of rehearsals over the years and sang “Seven Bridges Road” and the “Southwest JH Alma Mater '' together to close out the evening.
The event included performances by Logan Essex, Abby and Nick Bryan, the Rubio-Monk family, Genna Grace Head, William Gay and Caleb Osterman, Har-Bershop, Har-Ber Lighthouse, Southwest Harmonious, Southwest Unanimous and the Springdale Directors Barbershop Quartet.
The gathering was made possible by Ed Gay, Emily Simpson, Clint Pianalto, Michael Baker Brown, Eldon Watkins, Ben Hill, Karen Showalter, as well as former and current students and faculty of Southwest Junior High School.
