AM~Erica Makes a Shameless Plea

So anyway...

I'm just going to come out & say it...
YOUR VOTES ARE NEEDED!!

Not a lot of build, not a lot back story (OK...maybe some), but I am asking for your support for a good cause. And I will plead a case for it, too.

Here's the deelio:
Teen Girl's choir from #Truman is in a #ChristmasChoirCompetition (oops...creature of the hashtag habit...explain in a moment) for a local radio station, 99.7 The Point. It's a big deal, yo! It's for a $5,000 prize for the school's choral department!

After sending in a recording of a song they did for their Christmas concert, the field of high school choirs were narrowed down to a top 8...in which they made! Yea!
And after lots of text voting & hearing a clip of them singing on the radio each day, the field was narrowed to the top 4...in which they made! YEA!!!

Here's where it was getting tougher...
Not only are they drumming up the popular public vote thru texting, but they got to sing live in front of the judges! But this was no small hoop to jump thru. It was SO COLD OUT!!! Yes...they sang outside! BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

But I will tell you this choir was AMAZING! So proud of how they did!

Impressed? You should be!!

Now, beyond this performance...it's time to plead their case for your support:

1. They have made incredible strides. Their director, Kim Evans, is only in her 2nd year here. She has been amazing for this group of talented singers!

2. Truman is the only public school on the Missouri side. The others are an all boys private school (anyone in the area knows what school that is), and then two schools on in the Johnson County area. You figure this out.

3. While other schools dream of using the $5000 on big trips to far away places & brand new equipment (because they already have decent funding of sorts), Truman would love to have a budget & be able to use it for things like continuing to have concerts & cleaning their robes. Maybe even to pay for bus transportation for the regional choir competition. Funding for the arts, at Truman, continue to dwindle to move funds to a football team who can't win a game. It's a shame. The $5000 would be substantial for this choral department.

4. They kept hearing about having the best day of their lives on Wednesday. Come to find out, Wednesday morning, the $5000 will be awarded to the winning school along with the band, American Authors, to help deliver the check & to include the winning choir in their next music video. I'm serious, people!

Does this help at all? If so...here's how you can help this group of young & super talented group of singers:

1. By texting...a lot! Til your fingers hurt & your phone starts smoking! Send the word PATRIOTS to 47183. 

2. You can use #Truman on Instagram & Twitter. Oh...also...a lot. Also use #ChristmasChoirCompetition with it. (Look familiar?)

The top 2 left in the competition will be announced at 7:10 AM tomorrow morning! Hopefully #Truman will still be in the #ChristmasChoirCompetition!

Get voting, people! The judges are watching...

Please help if you can...and stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

**********

Update: 12/16/13

Thank you to all who voted & supported this fantastic group! The announcement was made this morning...and...
...the two Johnson County schools are the ones left in the top 2.

So sad & disappointed for Truman. They needed that funding. Badly. But alas...the local judges still are biased to money. You know the adage of you need money to make money? Yeah...that. Apparently.

Still very proud of how Truman's Concert Choir did. What an awesome choir they are!

But, alas, no more voting for them. *sigh*

Oh...and congrats to the other schools & stuffs.

AM~Erica Does Not Agree

So anyway...

Yesterday was a very crazy day. VERY CRAZY! Part of the craziness was the teen children doing school competition activities. Both are activities that I participated in when I was in high school. So having them follow in my footsteps makes a mama proud!

The girl was part of an ensemble, for choir, that went to districts. I know she was working on her music since she would sing her part of the songs ALL OF THE TIME! (Plus other things since she sings ALL OF THE TIME!) When she was done, we really needed to go get her or she would have between 5-6 hours of downtime. So we gave in & picked her up. Her ensemble did find out how they did. If you are familiar with contests, you will know that you hope to get a '1' rating. It's the best you can get...especially if there's a '+' after it! Well...after hearing about 2 of the ensemble members being off pitch & one of the girls decided to lip sync her part, and after the judge told them to leave right after they were done...I think they should feel really good about their '2' rating. She was disappointed, but she did all that she could do. It's when you have to lean on the help of others to achieve an end goal who don't really care or who are off their game, it doesn't bode well for the group. So...I am very proud of how my daughter did! Celebrate the '2'!

The teen boy, on the other hand, had a middle school level forensics tournament to go to. It's the 2nd one he's gotten to go to this year. He does a Humorous Interp (HI). The last tourney he went to, he made it to finals & took 5th place. Isn't that awesome? I sure think so! Now, we are realist parents (there aren't as many of those as you might hope there would be out there), and we tried to keep him encouraged, yet grounded. We just remind him to do his very best & see what happens. Later that evening, we got word that he'd made it to finals again! YEA!! And when he got home, he shared with us that he took...5th place...again! Woot!! So very proud of him!! But it came with concern...from him:

As it turns out, there are host schools that allow their own students to compete. Since these types of contests are done by opinion-based judging, and that the school & students ask family, friends & members of that community to come judge the rounds, that gives an unfair advantage to the competitors. This is not an event where "home field advantage" is appropriate. Yet, it seems to be happening. As middle schoolers trying to get the experience in these events...it's so difficult when their school pulls from crucial tournaments because of the host school banking on using that home field advantage thing. The whole process screws everyone over.

I only did it in high school. I don't ever remember a host school participating in their own tourney. The only time was during practice tourneys...but that was just for pointers.

So, I have a question that I hope to get comments on here...on the blog comments below:
If you are or ever have been involved in forensics tourneys & have dealt with your/a host school pulling the home-field advantage, what are your thoughts/opinions, and/or your experiences on either side been?
I would love to hear from you!

Thank you!!

Oh...and one more "I'm so proud of my kids!" OK...I'm better now...

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica