Going into a competition it’s rare that people are confident that without a doubt they’ll win or even score well in an event— the Lake Ridge Choir sure didn’t. Leading up to the University Interscholastic League or UIL, choir knew they were good but they never thought they were good enough to make a “1” in nearly every event they competed in or even win sweepstakes. Last year when choir went to UIL, they thought they competed well enough to get sweepstakes but unfortunately didn’t. Although that didn’t stop them from practicing hard for the next UIL competition.

For senior Haleigh Thompson, this new-found success couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Last year we really thought that we were going to get sweepstakes for the first time, but this year it was really special because it’s my senior year and we got to make Lake Ridge history,” said Thompson.

‘Practice makes perfect’ was a motto choir seemed to stick with all this year. With intense training during and after school the choir practiced each song several times and sight read as well. Also, if  you think singing some songs in English is hard imagine singing in a language you don’t even know; something like Portuguese.

“I prepared for choir UIL by practicing after school about five days a week for an hour and a half. We have three songs, one of which was in a foreign language, which was Portuguese and the other two were in English. We practiced the Portuguese one the most because that was the most complicated one, but the other two we got it really quick because we’re just that good,” said Janel Vasquez, junior.

When it came to the boys choir they were just as successful as the girl earning a “1” and “2” in most of their individual events. The group spent many hours practicing after school just like the girls and when it was all over they definitely were overjoyed.

“I was pretty happy that our hard work had paid off for both us and Mr. Glenn,” says sophomore Ryan Overby.