At the end of the 2023-2024 school year, the choir program unexpectedly lost its co-director, Dan Dade. In lieu of his departure, the program hired another co-director, Mr. Kenneth Bedwell, to take over for Dade’s position, following by taking Mrs. Sheri Petersen’s position.
Due to unexpected circumstances, Mr. Bedwell has decided to move back to his once resided state, South Carolina, at the end of the school year. This leaves Grand Ledge High School not to find only one, but now two new choir directors.
“My wife grew up on the coast, and ever since we got here she was just really expressing consistently that she wanted to move back. I decided that if we were here longer, it would be even more difficult on the students, on the program, and on my family,” Mr. Bedwell said.
With Bedwell leaving the interview process and setup of the interview have looked differently than expected. Mrs. Petersen has been using her time left to give as much preparation as possible to the incoming teachers.
“I need to set this program up to be super successful for someone that’s not even here and so rather than saying ‘oh Mr. Bedwell you handle this stuff’, I’m doing it. Which is fine, I just of course want it to be super successful in the fall,” choir director Mrs. Petersen said.
Since Mr. Bedwell announced early this month that he is leaving, choir students have expressed their opinions and what they want next year to look like. One thing they may all have in common is hoping that traditions stay in place.
“I hope that the opportunities that we have stay the same, such as choral festival, zoo tour, and solo & ensemble. Having a new choir director could affect traditions because we are put in the hands of an entirely new director. We don’t know what traditions they will keep or change, or what they will like or dislike,” sophomore Madrigal student, Caleb Wilcox, said.
Although new people often bring in new ideas and activities, Mrs. Petersen advises that things stay the same way to keep students comfortable and more conductive to change. In addition to the students, she also hopes that special traditions and activities do not go away.
“I would always recommend that the first year directors don’t try to remake the entire program and keep the status quo. And there may be some things that the new directors come in and say ‘I don’t know why Mrs. P did this, but I’m not doing that’. But I hope there’s still Christmas parties and I hope there’s still white elephant gifts, you know, just things that make it fun. And I hope we still do combined songs at the end of collage,” Mrs. Petersen said.
All parties have expressed their hope for lasting traditions, but also their openness to change that may be beneficial. Students look forward to opportunities this may bring to the program.
“I hope the program stays relatively the same next year. I’m not opposed to some changes here and there, but nothing super major. I’m open to different vocal techniques, new genres for our pieces, or maybe new events to go to,” Wilcox said.
As the year comes to a close and interviews for new choir teachers open up, choir students also try to remain hopeful on what the upcoming year may bring. Although many don’t want to see drastic changes, they also agree some change may not hurt.
