MHS seniors, junior earn recognition for their singing talent

Four students in Huron Valley Milford High School’s Vocal Music Program earned top honors at a prestigious choir camp held last month.

About 180 students worked with professional choreographers and vocal directors during the camp held at the Macomb Community Show Choir Camp. The week-long camp ended with a one-hour performance by students attending from all over the metro Detroit area.

The high school entered two groups to compete — an all-women’s choir and a mixed choir.

“During the course of that week they learned collectively four pieces per group — that’s eight pieces they had to learn, memorize and choreograph,” said Huron Valley Milford Vocal Music Director Maryann Lambrecht. “It was an amazing show.”

On the second day of camp, there was a call out for soloists to perform at the final performance.

“Of the 180 kids involved, six were offered solos and four came from our Huron Valley Milford music program,” Lambrecht said.

Those four were seniors James Richardson, Sean Richardson, and Nancy Boyd, along with junior Kaitlyn Weickel, who also received the Memorial Scholarship awarded to the outstanding member of the camp.

“Kaitlyn has had a winning year,” Lambrecht said. “She got a major solo at the camp, the memorial scholarship and is taking a lead role in the fall musical, ‘Bye Bye Birdie.’”

Richardson said the competition was intense, but he was thrilled he was selected from such a talented crop of kids after singing his rendition of “Everybody’s Got Somebody but Me” by Hunter Hayes.

“It was really relieving because there were so many students,” he said. “There were two rounds and they narrowed the list, and at the end made announcements of the finalists and my name was called last.”

Boyd agreed, adding that the exhilaration of performing superseded being selected.

“I sang ‘I Can’t Say No’ from ‘Oklahoma’ and was just so excited. It’s the biggest adrenaline rush after you walk off stage,” she said. “You want to make everything just right and afterwards the rush is so amazing.”