Last Saturday, 74 Manhattan High students in orchestra, band and choir arrived at MHS early in  the morning, instruments in tow, in order to play in district honor groups. More than a month ago students from across the North central district auditioned for a chance to be placed in the prestigious district honor groups hosted by the Kansas Music Educators Association.The district that MHS is in includes every school from Wamego to Salina. Students audition and if selected for the group, they audition for all-state groups and higher up competitions.

The MHS students who were selected received the music the honor groups would perform in the past couple of weeks, in order to practice on their own and then all of the students from across the district came together for a grueling day of rehearsal in order to perform later that afternoon. Students rehearsed for hours at a time with guest clinicians from across the state.

“A lot of students did really well,” orchestra and jazz band director Nate McClendon said. “In the jazz band, I had a couple standouts…in fact all the Manhattan students got to do a lot of solos with jazz band.”