URBANA — Urbana High School choir students found out in class Monday morning that in just a few weeks, they’ll be performing on stage alongside rock legends Foreigner at State Farm Center.
The students said director Becky Park downplayed the announcement, but they’re thrilled.
“She said, ‘We’re going to pull you out after class so that, you know, you’re going to sing with Foreigner.’ We were like, ‘What?’” senior Camille Spann said.
“It’s like ... ‘You guys won, by the way,’” senior Jaiden Burgess said.
The choir room was chaotic after school Monday as the kids celebrated after trying not to tell anybody about the news all day.
The announcement was supposed to be kept secret so that it would be a surprise when everyone els else was informed today, but that didn’t go so well.
“Miss Park definitely said not to tell anybody,” Burgess said. “I told like five people while you were telling me that.”
Junior Kierra Moten managed to keep it a secret for the most part but admitted she had to tell her mom right away.
This will be the choir’s first time performing at State Farm Center and its first time in front of such a large crowd.
None of its members could remember performing in front of an audience larger than the whole school, which has over 1,100 students, whereas they were joking that there would be “millions” in the audience on Oct. 22.
When Centennial High School’s choir performed with Foreigner in 2019, they joined in on the band’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.”
Urbana choir members don’t know yet exactly what they’ll be singing or how everything will go; Park said she’s expecting more information from Foreigner soon.
That means they only have a couple of weeks to get everything ready.
“Sometimes we’re a bit slower when we want to perfect a song,” senior Ivy Santelor said.
It’s a bit nerve-wracking, but — “I think we’re going to do real good,” senior Janae Hall said.
Queen’s “Somebody to Love” was their audition piece, which the group had ready to perform in a little over a week.
The whole process has been a whirlwind; Moten joked about being in her pajamas for the audition video, which earned the choir the most votes out of 13 area choirs that submitted videos at WHMS.com. Nearly 19,000 votes were tallied during the online contest.
Urbana edged second-place Mahomet-Seymour by around 100 votes.
Along with the chance to perform on stage, Foreigner is giving the choir program $500.
Park said the money will go toward the choir’s upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, specifically getting to the airport and back.
Several members of the choir said they only joined because Park urged them to; “coerced” was the term senior Gabriel Srajek used, but he didn’t seem to be complaining.
“I was walking with my friends to class and Miss Park was like, ‘You were so good in this musical, you should join choir,’ ” Srajek said.
Burgess had a similar experience and said Park might have even had his name on the sign-up list before he agreed to join, but he’s definitely enjoying it now.
“I like singing with people who are actually passionate about it,” Burgess said. “We get to enjoy singing and doing things together where it feels more of like a community than just like a little class.”
Luke Taylor