Willow Glen Resident

Education

Hoover Middle School students come home with musical gold

ByMary Gottschalk

Students in the choirs and advanced orchestra at Hoover Middle School can now boast they're the best in the state.

At the California Association for Music Education statewide competition called Music in the Parks on May 30, Hoover's Advanced Orchestra, Concert Choir and Women's Choir walked away with first-place finishes in their categories.

Additionally, the judges named the Hoover Women's Choir the outstanding overall choir among all categories.

Both the orchestra and concert choir received an "excellent" rating, and the women's choir received a "superior" rating.

The three groups competed at venues around Orange County during the day on May 30 and then gathered with other competitors at Disneyland that evening for the awards.

Josh Palkki, who has been teaching choir at the Rose Garden school for four years, is proud of his students and their achievements. He points out that this is the second year in a row that they have earned the Unanimous Superior rating, the highest possible accolade at California Association for Music Education festivals.

Additionally, he says, the choir won first place at the San Francisco Heritage Festival last year. It was the only middle school choir in the festival that was invited to the prestigious Heritage Festivals of Gold competition.

Aryn Krijnen is the orchestra director at Hoover.