Jasmine Powell Earns Choral Accolades

Jasmine+Powell+Earns+Choral+Accolades

Talented, hard working, driven–these are just a few words friends and teachers have used to describe SJHHS student Jasmine Powell (12).

Powell, a leader in the choral department has earned several choir accolades this year.

“She works incredibly hard. She has obvious talent and training, but a lot of it comes from her motivation,” states Michael Ushino, the choir teacher here at SJHHS. “She doesn’t accept mediocrity; she wants to be the best.”

The past two years Jasmine was selected for the California All State Honor Choir, the most selective for California students. Auditions are very intensive and they only select the top 100 singers, both male and female.

She is the first person from CUSD to be selected to participate in the 2016 ACDA Western Division Conference. The conference took place on February 24th through the 27th in Pasadena, CA and featured the top singers in the Western United States.

“It was such an honor to be selected and around the other talented singers,” Powell commented.

Powell is currently the president of the SJHHS choral department, president of the vocal ensemble choir club, and the soprano section leader in the Chamber Choir class.

She spent the beginning of this year preparing for intensive college auditions as she plans on majoring in music education or vocal performance. She plans on attending either Cal State Fullerton or University of Michigan.

These college auditions required a repertoire of pieces in different languages including Italian, French, Spanish and German.

To prepare for these pieces, Powell had to put in a lot of effort to be fully engaged. According to Ushino, she had to fully dissect the language and understand every word of the piece. Together, they analyzed the poetry and meaning behind the songs.

She also had to focus on vocal placement, breathing control, and other vocal techniques. Ushino explained, “It is incredibly challenging.”

After flying to Michigan to audition in person, Powell explained that she felt the excitement of what a career in vocal performance might look like.

“I feel like my career could really go a lot of ways. I sing a lot of classical, some jazz, some pop, and some musical theatre. It’s nice to have that flexibility,” stated Powell.

Powell commented that as she reflects back on her years in the choral department here, she is “thankful for the strong arts department and support she’s got from Ushino, Ms. B and academic teachers. I’m thankful for the strong community I have found here.”