NCSS Students to Participate in Statewide Elementary Honor Chorus

Newton County School System (NCSS) will be well represented in the Georgia Music Educators Association’s 2025 Statewide Elementary Honor Chorus. Fifth-grade students from East Newton, Fairview, Heard-Mixon, Mansfield, Newton County Theme School, and South Salem have been selected to participate in the prestigious event at the Classic Center in Athens, Georgia. Music specialists, Mary Katherine Skidmore, East Newton; Will Schmidt, Fairview; Amy S. Rains, Heard-Mixon; Sarah Latimer, Mansfield; Ciara Edge, Newton County Theme School; and Marie Webb, South Salem; will also represent NCSS at the event.

According to Rains, students selected to participate in the Elementary Honor Chorus must rehearse and learn the music prior to the event. Then they gather with all 500 students from across the state for the group performance. Students are divided equally amongst two choirs, the Vivace Choir and the Allegro Choir, and this year, all Newton County students will perform the following songs with the Allegro Choir: Dancing and Singing arranged by Patrick M. Liebergen, Little Fox arranged by Shirley W. McRae, Non Nobis, Domine arranged by Douglas E. Wagner, Winds by Larysa Kuzmenko, and Zions Walls from Old American Songs Set II by Aaron Copland.

“The Statewide Elementary Honor Chorus affords students the unique opportunity to perform with talented students from all over the state of Georgia in a very large choir,” said Rains. “They will be directed by Emily Ellsworth and Jeff Kriske, who are both very accomplished conductors and educators of choral music, so this will definitely be a wonderful learning experience for our students.”

The following students will represent NCSS at the 2025 Georgia Music Educators Association’s Statewide Elementary Honor Chorus:

“For our students to have the opportunity to participate in such a dynamic and versatile musical event underscores our belief that the arts make a substantive and positive impact on our students,” said Benjamin Roundtree, NCSS Director of Elementary Education. “These young people represent the very best that our district’s music program has, and I am proud they were able to showcase their talents and their teachers’ hard work as members of the Georgia Music Educators Association’s Statewide Elementary Honor Chorus.