As many of its members prepare to graduate, choral students and their director are reflecting on past concerts, why they enjoy being a part of the program and the close connections developed over the years.
According to choir director Jon Timmons, he became a choir teacher because his high school choir teacher made school a “better experience,” and he would like to “pay it forward.”
“My music teachers were some of the most supporting teachers that I had when I was a kid and it meant a lot to me and made high school such a better experience,” Timmons said, “and so I want to now pay that forward and recreate that for teenagers.”
Senior Jackson Rohrbaugh said he has been doing choir for many years.
“I’ve done choir since I was in fourth grade. I just love singing so choir seemed like an obvious choice for me,” Rohrbaugh said.
According to senior Bryan Wu, choir is a “continuation from elementary and middle school.”
“I’ve always done it and going into high school I was doing both choir and orchestra, but I ended up just sticking with choir because I really enjoyed the community,” Wu said.
According to Timmons he likes to see how the students’ talent “grows over time.”
“Each year they are growing and getting better and more confident and it’s just really cool to see a kid start freshman year,” Timmons said, “and by the end of their senior year to see how much they have grown as a person and a singer.”
Senior Cayden Johnson appreciates Timmons as a dedicated educator. “Mr. Timmons is such a passionate person about choir and music in general,” Johnson said. “He’s also very attentive to certain things in the choir.”
Rohrbaugh agrees that Timmons takes what he does seriously and cares for the program.
“Mr. Timmons is very passionate about what he does and I really appreciate that about him because you can tell that he loves choir music and singing,” Rohrbaugh said, “so having someone who cares so much about what they do as a job is really nice.”
Wu believes that Timmons has strong character and while he is a good teacher, he is also a great person.
“He does a great job with working one- on-one and not being afraid to point out things that go wrong, but he’s also very attentive and very welcoming,” Wu said. “He’s just a great guy, overall.”
Senior Aya Hradannsky believes that people who are thinking about joining choir should, “just stick with it.”
“There’s a lot of opportunities to get involved with the choir,” Hradannsky said.
Johnson recommends trying out, even if you make some mistakes.
“It all takes time,” Johnson said.
