By Abby Gross

As the crowd cheers and the last performers bow, the Urbandale Choir is anxiously awaiting their turn to rush the on stage to take a chance at winning the title as the Midwest Regional Champs. Brooke Hartman, junior, was part of the Urbandale Show Choir her freshman year, where she was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take a spot in the annual Fame competition, in Chicago.

The SCNCS (Show Choir National Championship Series) has a week long competition every year. For Brooke, this week happened to be the week of Urbandale’s spring break. The trip didn’t start out as smoothly as they had hoped, due to a broken door on the bus, but once they arrived in Chicago the fun began.

“We got to stay in the most amazing hotel, it was right across the street from the Genesee Theatre. That theater was where the contest was held,” said Brooke. They were told to bunk four to a room, so naturally Brooke and her three closest friends, Hannah, Katie, and Jessie all bunked together.

Even though they were there to sing they still were able to have fun. They would play games throughout the hotel halls and challenge each other to complete a task in the amount of time it took the elevator doors to open and close when it stopped at a floor. “ It was so fun, until someone called management and we got sent back to our room for being a disturbance,” said her roommate Jessie.

On days when they didn’t have to perform, busses would take them downtown so they could spend the day seeing the city or shopping. “The best part about these days was that there was no set schedule,” said Brooke. “We could do whatever we wanted.” Brooke, with the eye of a photograp

her, loves the look of downtown. The bus would come back around nine to pick everyone up to take them back to the hotel.

“One of the days the four girls missed the bus and I had to go back to get them,” said Hannah’s mom, who chaperoned the trip.
On one of the days Brooke didn’t have to perform they got to go an opera. It was the Paris Opera Ballet. “It was horrible. It was long and I didn’t understand any of it cause it was in French,” said Brooke.

Overall, the Urbandale choir received second place, and had the option to continue onto nationals. Though nationals sounded great, the choir decided not to go due to the cost. “It was a great accomplishment,” said Brooke, “but it would have been even better to receive first place.”