On April 7, the Fenton High Ambassadors left for Nashville, Tenn. to compete in the WorldStrides Heritage Festival. They competed in both Vocal Jazz and Showchoir categories. 

“The Ambassadors won a Gold rating in both categories,” choir director Brad Wright said. “There were three Maestro Awards given out to Ibrahim Sene, Davanie Blackwell and Skye Hodgkin for outstanding solos. We also won Adjudicator Awards for both vocal jazz and show choir for having combined scores of over 95 out of 100 points.”

Because of COVID-19, the Ambassadors were unable to attend competitions for the past three years until now. 

“COVID completely threw off our regular rhythm as a competition choir,” senior Skye Hodgkin said. “It’s been very exciting to start competing again. Because of the absence from competitions, we have had to completely re-discover what a normal year should look like. My freshman year there were a lot of cliques and separation from the underclassmen and upperclassmen but this time— especially in the spirit of creating new traditions— I didn’t feel that separation at all.” 

At competitions, the choirs sing for three judges who score the groups on things like diction, intonation, harmony, dynamics, general effort, choreography and more. Each category has a specific number of points and together they add up to 100.

“The highest score ever given to the Ambassadors from a single judge was a 98 out of 100,” Wright said. “In this competition, one of our judges gave us a perfect score of 100 out of 100. In my 22 years of teaching at Fenton High and taking this group on competition trips, this was the first time we ever got a perfect score.”

Although their perfect score and the awards they won will be remembered, these trips provide a bonding experience for the group that makes them even more of a family, providing them with unforgettable memories.

“It didn’t matter whether we won Gold, Silver or Bronze. We did it together,” junior Ibrahim Sene said. “We are a family and no trophy or rating will affect our bond or trump the feeling we get being together. Leaving Nashville was sad because of all the memories we made there and all the experiences we had together.”

The Ambassadors have their finale concert May 6 and 7 in the Ruby Zima Auditorium, where they will perform their award-winning concert.