Headed into their fifth and final competition for this year, Wahlert’s Impact and Impulse show choirs have an abundance of accomplishments to be proud of. Impact, Wahlert’s prep group, placed within the top 4 places in the prep division at each competition, taking home a prep grand champion title at Bettendorf.

Impulse, Wahlert’s varsity group, placed 3rd at Western Dubuque, 2nd at Anamosa and Bettendorf, and won grand champions for the first time in four years at Monona Grove, WI. In addition to the overall title at Monona Grove, Impulse snatched the awards for best choreography and best vocals as well.

While each song in both Impact and Impulse’s shows displays incredible talent, Impulse’s performance of Rise, written by Katy Perry and covered by Boyce Avenue, seems to blow away the judges and crowd away the most. Arranged by Michael Banwarth, ‘17, Rise features Banwarth on piano, Sam Sykes, ‘19, on cello, and the four-time best male soloist Owen Borelli, ‘18.

Having been in show choir for five years now, Borelli has a lot of experience with the intensity of awards at competitions. While he is honored to have won the title of best male soloist four competitions in a row, this is not his favorite aspect of show choir.

“My favorite part is having countless opportunities to show people how special we are as a team,” says Borelli. “We are all pretty close, and that doesn’t always happen with a lot of choirs.”

Although he knew the title of best male soloist was within reach this season, Borelli’s goals have been to simply try his best and enter each performance with a positive attitude. To Borelli, winning the award is just a “cherry on top” to each performance.

“It feels awesome, but all of this attention is a little much for me. I’m glad that people appreciate what I do, but I am also a huge fan of Abby’s (Abby Burns, ‘18) solo. Even after hearing it so many times, I still can’t believe what comes out of her mouth. As a team, we are all so good at what we do, and that’s what makes show choir fun.”

“For the last competition, I hope that we all realize how much we have accomplished and build on it. It’s important to realize that the real prize [in show choir] is the support that we give one another. We need to go out and do what we do best as a team, which is completely destroy (in a good way) every song in our show.”

Headed to Cedar Rapids Jefferson this weekend, Impact and Impulse hope to rise up to the challenge and end this season on a high note.