For the past two weeks, Show Choir has been traveling for competitions, and still has two more to go. In both competitions, they have placed 8th overall.

They competed at the 21st Annual Midwest Classic Competition at Danville High School, in Danville, Ill., against 20 other teams the weekend of Feb. 4,  and competed again on Saturday, Feb. 11, in Troy, Mo., at a similar event.

“I think that we did pretty good considering that we were up against bigger schools,” Madelyn Berzon, sophomore, said.

Berzon has been on the team for two years.

The team came back from the first competition in Danville with a newer, more competitive mentality, Berzon said, and they knew what skills they needed to improve.

To improve from their last performance, a former director of Ben Davis High School, and current judge for competitions, has critiqued and worked with the team to prepare for new competitions and what judges are looking for. At the following competition, the team improved their overall score by over 90 points thanks to the help of judges’ critiquing and work for self-improvement, Berzon said.

The team performs a set of six songs, one of which is a trio of Riley Walsh, junior; Rachel Pevehouse, senior; and Shae Schiff-Clarke, junior. A ballad called “Light” is included as well.

Berzon said the theme of the show is about breaking free from a person to become your best self.

Typically for competitions out of town, the team has to leave school early, resulting in missed classes, and additional homework to do during competition weekends.

Melanie Bantel, junior, admitted that traveling has been stressful and a strain on school work; however, the camaraderie developed with team members is worth it.

“I think we’re a lot closer. Especially since we have overnight trips and we get to room together,” Bantel said. “There were two girls in my room who I didn’t really speak to before, but now we’re really close and I can talk to them.”