Senior Spotlight

Anna's Girl Scout Troop at the award night (minus the one girl who goes to Ankeny South)  

 

Final Band concert

Once again, Anna was a 7th grade flute mentor.

 Anna was a 4 year letter winner.  I couldn't get any action shots as she was behind a music stand for the concert :0)  Hard to get an unwashed out shot from far away.  Of course, if I would just learn how to use my camera......guess that ship has sailed!

First party of the party season....Flutes Unite!

 

picture boards for grad parties!!

Family and Friends .... through the years

 Choir in the middle, band on the sides!

I also made 12 batches of desserts (quadruple batches X 3 recipes)....sugar cookies, oreo balls and peanut butter balls....needed for 4 different gatherings  (They all need to be decorated or dipped a day or two before.)  Anna is hosting the flute party (22 kiddos +/- next week), the week after that Aunt Debbie and Grandma will visit, then Anna turns 18 (no specific party day of), then her grad party (when she is 18 years and 2 days old), then 2 weeks later she graduates and we will have a family party......oh my!  busy busy)

It may sound crazy but these two projects (the desserts and the picture boards) were the biggest tasks I had on my mental list.  All the other food will need to me made close to the time of the parties and I have all the other decorations in the basement ready to be set up.     

Prom 2025

Grace (below) is also in Anna's Girl Scout Troop and her co-leader of the flutes for marching band.

All 12th grade band kids (4 are flutes :0)  This group (plus and minus kiddos) have been going to Homecoming since they were freshman! (and Prom last year)

 

Disney photos

 

Anna has a Halloween costume for the Disney Movie "Monster's Inc"  They had a "secret santa" kind of gift exchange within her show choir group and her secret Santa got her matching ears....So thoughtful!

They had Show Choir practice on Halloween

                                    Anna and Lola have been friends since 1st grade I think!

Orlando Spring Show trip

Vortex prelim 

If you double click on the link above and go to 1:09:45  you will get a great shot at Anna. (far right middle, so you don't have to search)

The show starts at 01:01:08 but I love the time slot I give above for seeing a close up of Anna! (and a happy song)

I love this photo:  Anna had a "sunbeam" on her....(this photo can help you find her in the video)

I love this photo:  Anna had a "sunbeam" on her....

I think they had a great trip and parents and students had a welcome home surprise when their buses made it back to school.

Spring Show: Senior night

 Anna at the start of the show

                                                   

Breaking out of the vault! (Anna is to the left of the dial turners)

Joel also came, but after we were already sitting down....the life of a college student with a mid-term to take!  (He had to finish it (on line) after the show....so he really hated the emergency break in the show due to high winds.)

The Senior part of senior night....hard to get a good picture all the way across the stage!

Things were pretty chill because their 8th grade show (which is played at senior night) was recorded on an Ipad and they were all wearing masks.  (2020-2021)  They had very little practice that  year and no competitions...which probably explains the small size of the senior class for show choir (36 compared to Carolyn's 71!  Lower classes also are much bigger.)

Below is Carolyn's senior class...gigantic!

The day after senior show, the kids all had to be on a bus at 4:45 in the morning for their last regular competition in Omaha NE.  It was a great show and the kids worked very hard.  Ken and I also were able to spend time meeting with friends from Omaha after the show!

Getting ready for graduation!

 Spring Show Choir (senior night) is coming quickly and we are heading to San Francisco next week.  So I finished Anna's senior board for show choir. (Almost every senior displays photos from their show choir career.  Carolyn and Joel also included 8th grade on their board, but Anna's 8th grade year was during Covid and so they didn't have costumes and compete in shows.)  Anna said they didn't even sing and dance at the same time when they made their video (on an Iphone....so very fancy).  

Normally at Senior Show, they play the 8th grade performance, not sure how the Iphone video will look enlarged to the super screen.  

 It feels  nice to have something done for her graduation party too!

(and below....blast from the past)

          (pre-cricut)

Perry Band Olympics

The McCleary Family has a big Perry Band Olympics Tradition.  Saturday was the end many events where kiddo (Matthew and Anna in the case of Perry) had a day out playing music and going out to eat (usually in Perry), starting in 2014.  Anna was in flute choir, woodwind ensemble and she had a solo (not pictured).  Everything was beautiful.  Anna drove us to Urbandale to interview her cousin Liz for a class paper, then drove us to Perry.  She wants to be more independent with driving on the highway.  Then after her 3 performances she drove us to the mall for dinner and to pick out her prom dress.  So it was a very busy and very fun day!

Vortex: Show choir senior season

click here to watch video of first day's final performance

In a nutshell....their story show is loosely based on a dystopian video game/tv show called Fallout.  

Basically, the group is underground due to the lack of safe conditions above, but then they learn them have been lied to and escape to get back to the life they remember.  We joked "how is Vortex escaping next year?"  This is the 2nd year that Centennial has had a varsity girls group.  Previously the girls group was an entry level group (that Anna was in when she was a 9th grader).  (Since there are so many more girls than boys they made a switch to elevate the older girls who aren't in Spectrum.) Last year Vortex girls escaped a zoo (they were birds :0)  

Anyway....here is Anna!

Anna got accept the award at finals.  Her group beat 5 other varsity groups, so they were over the moon.  Her school's top group won it all - so they were singing the Hokey Pokey.  This is their traditional "yeh we won" song.  They are really good, so they get to sing it a lot.  All 4 show choirs participate in singing.

Three more regular competitions and then they get to travel to Orlando to compete!