Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GHS singers achieve All-State status

Two Gurdon High School students were selected on Feb. 9 at Searcy to be among 120 singers to make All-State Choir, out of 6,000 students competing throughout Arkansas.

GHS Choir Director Sandra Hitt said junior Brandon Smith and senior Christina Daniels were selected.

"Gurdon has had a choir program competing for 10 years," Hitt said. "The only other student to ever make All-State Choir was Kara Thomas in 1997."

The students will perform for the public, with the others in the 120 members of the All-State Choir, at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The concert is free and Hitt encourages Gurdon residents to go and support their own.

Hitt said the selection process for All-State Choir starts in October, with regional participation. There are eight regions in Arkansas. Gurdon is in the southwest region.

Once getting past regional tryouts, Smith and Daniels were eligible for the All-State Choir competition.

Hitt said Smith is a bass one singer, while Daniels is a soprano two. While competing in regional contests, four songs were performed by each. Hitt said they were foreign tunes. Example languages involved were: Russian, Italian and German.

"We considered them already winners if they just got to go to the All-State competition tryouts," she said. "They will be performing at Hot Springs on Thursday and Friday in practice for the Saturday public performance. This is a very big deal to these students and I really encourage Gurdon folks to go Saturday and enjoy the performances."

Hitt said she came to the Gurdon school as a music teacher 13 years ago, and there was no choir program. The effort has grown during the past decade.

Christina Daniels said of her All-State Choir spot, "I am surprised I made it. I have been singing in choir since the seventh grade. This is such a best of the best honor. I would like to thank God, Ms. Hitt and my mom for being my number one fan and supporting me all through the year."

Christina is the daughter of Nikki and Jason Burns of Gurdon.

She and Brandon recalled singing, "Oh to Joy," as one of the All-State tryout songs.

Brandon said, "I would like to thank God for giving me this talent to sing, my choir teacher for making me work and my parents for supporting me. Making it to All-State was the best feeling ever; knowing that you gave your all and it paid off."

Brandon is the son of Barbara Smith and James Mills of Gurdon.