25 Decorah Middle School and Decorah High School students selected for Opus Honors Choirs

(Front row, left to right): Morgan Moen, Elayna Hook and Bethany Hanson. (Middle Row, left to right): Michael Njus, Matthew Smith, Cooper McElree, Luke Walter, Nolan Jostand, Rebekah Pedlar and Ella Grouws (Back row, left to right): Eva Carbonell, Isabelle Kingsbury, Kaia Neal, Brielle Buresh, Sofie Grouws, Leila Johnson, Morgan Dlhy, Mikiah Krieg and Grace Robison

25 Decorah students will participate in the 31st Opus Honor Choir Festival Thursday at Iowa State University in Ames.  `9 students were selected from Decorah Middle School, while six freshmen were selected from Decorah High School.

There will be four Opus Honor Choirs, each with 180 singers.

This is the eleventh year that Decorah singers have auditioned for the Opus Honor Choirs. During this time more than 240 students from Decorah have been accepted into these choirs.

The vocal students are coached by Decorah Middle School vocal director Dean Beckman, Decorah High School vocal director Jason Rausch and other community choir directors.

The following students were selected:

5th Grade: Bethany Hanson and Elayna Hook

6th Grade: Eva Carbonell, Ella Grouws, Morgan Moen, Michael Njus, and Rebekah Pedlar

7th Grade: Brielle Buresh, Morgan Dlhy, Mikiah Krieg, and Grace Robison

8th Grade: Sofie Grouws, Leila Johnson, Nolan Jostand, Isabelle Kingsbury,
Cooper McElree, Kaia Neal, Matthew Smith, and Luke Walter

9th Grade:  Audrey Casterton, Finn Deen-Lester, Lily Humpal, Annette Leschensky, Lily Smith, and Gabe Vilardo

(Front row, left to right): Lily Smith, Annette Leschensky and Finn Deen-Lester. (Back row, left to right): Lily Humpal, Audrey Casterton and Gabe Vilardo