Westlawn Students Rock the All-County Choral Festival

By Jon Hamilton and translated for screen readers by Alanna Dushok
March 29, 2023

We know that our Westlawn students love to read graphic novels, and thought they might like to star in them, too! Thank you to Mr. Hamilton for creating this wonderful graphic novel-style narrative about the All-County Choral Festival starring Westlawn students Emily, Optimus, and Ella!

A title slide with a blue background and the letters “ACCF” in large yellow font. A small arc of white letters says “All County Choral Festival.” The names Emily, Optimus, and Ella are written in a column. The phrase “Let’s Look at Some Photos” with an arrow is in the bottom corner.There is a graphic of three cartoon people. Text on the side says “These students gave up recess every Wednesday for half of the year to learn their music.” One character has a speech bubble that says, “We learned 10 songs and had to memorize them all!” Another has a speech bubble that says, “We also went to 2 rehearsals after school for 2 hours and then rehearsed for 10 hours on the festival weekend!”There is a picture of the three students activating goofy and giving thumbs up signs. Accompanying text reads, “Easily the 3 coolest kids at the festival.”The slide features two photos of Optimus: one where he is smiling and one where his back is to the camera as he faces another student from a different school. A text box reads: “Popular Kids: Everyone wanted to be friends with our students. They just came up to our kids and started talking to them. Optimus was very good at starting conversations with kids he didn’t know and making them feel welcome.”This slide has two photos of Emily and Ella dancing. Text on the side reads, “The Dance Party: Why Ella and Emily are more brave than most adults I know!” Text near the photo of Ella says, “Ella: In the freezing and wet weather, Ella decides that it is a good time to start a dance party!” Text next to Emile reads: “Emily: Emily agrees and joins in on the ‘fun!’”A series of four photos shows a group of girls from another school, Ella falling when dancing, and Ella approaching the girls afterward. Text next to the photos of the girls says, “Girls: A group of girls watch Ella and Emily dance.” Text next to the photo of Ella falling says, “The Fall: Ella fell and the group of girls began laughing!” Text next to the picture of Ella walking toward the girls says, “Confrontation: Ella decides to get up and walk over to these young people and talk to them about it!”A page designed to make the reader pause and think. Text at the top reads: “This Can Go A Few Ways: Vote which way you think it goes!” Voting options include: “Bad: Ella can remind this young lady that it’s not nice to laugh at others;” “Very Bad: Mr. Hamilton can remind these young ladies why it’s not nice to laugh at others;” and “Different: Emily can sing her classic song Unicorn Kitties and calms everyone down.”There are three photos of the girls interacting with Ella and Emily. Text in the middle reads, “They got them involved in the dance party.” In a photo with Ella facing Emily, Ella is given a text bubble that says, “Remember how they were laughing at us 2 minutes ago?” and a text bubble for Emily says, “Now they love us! Being nice is better!”A stock photo of the dictionary entry for “Confidence” being highlighted is on the left of this slide. The title of the slide reads: “That ‘Dance Party’ was a masterclass in confidence!” Text underneath reads, “I was so impressed with how Ella and Emily made new friends out of people who they could have ran away from. When they fell, they didn’t just get up and start dancing again, they got the people who were laughing to dance with them! These two showed a lot of confidence in how they handled themselves in this dance party. What would have been an embarrassing failure to so many other kids became a great moment for these Young Sovereigns!” There is also a quote from Oprah Whitney: “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”A photo taken from the audience shows a large set of bleachers full of students wearing white shirts and black pants. A text box says, “There were one thousand sixth graders all together singing the same music!”There is a photo of Ella, Emily, and Optimus against a purple backdrop. A text box reads, “Concert Day Fit: They showed up on Concert Day ready for action.” Each student has a white shirt and black pants.There are three photos of the students taken when they were sitting in their places on the bleachers. The title says, “Some were more focused than others!” Additional text says, “They practiced for 6 hours on Friday, March 25 and 4 hours on Saturday, March 26th before the concert!”The last slide features the three students making “strong person” poses in front of a purple backdrop. Text on the photo reads, “Thank you for reading!”

Fifth grade students who are interested in representing Westlawn at the All-County Choral Festival in 2024 should keep a lookout for auditions during next school year. Families who want to hear the concert are invited to listen to the broadcast when it is streamed on Red Apple TV. Dates and times of streaming include April 10 at 7:00 PM, April 12 at 7:00 PM, April 13 at 11:00 AM, April 14 at 4:00 PM, April 15 at 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM, and April 16 at 5:00 PM.