Tony Nguyen, vice president of Kerr Choir, stands in front of the two big doors – the two very same doors that he has opened countless times since his freshman year. These two black doors that lead into a large spacious room that echoed with every step. The room that choir students longed to be back in. 

In the middle of Nguyen’s sophomore year of high school, a pandemic hit, and school was dismissed in March 2020. This caused schools to transition into an online learning environment. Virtual learning went on until August 2021 and now, schools are open in person again. As Kerr opened back up, the choir held its first concert after a year and a half. 

“The hardest part, honestly, was just maintaining the same form like we had like two years ago,” Nguyen said.  

After a year and a half of being unable to sing with each other synchronously, getting back and maintaining the shape that they had before was hard. Because Zoom and other online platforms had delays, trying to sing with others was rough. 

“The hardest part is probably just like syncing everything, because all of us have such different voices and styles of singing,” senior varsity chorale student Christine Nguyen said. 

But even through all the struggles, the teacher managed to piece together everything and had fun as well. 

“Just seeing and hearing the choir students in person for the first time in a year and a half that’s been amazing,” choir director Vanessa Winslow said. 

Not only were the teachers excited, the students as well. 

“…We poured our heart and soul into this concert,” Tony Nguyen said. 

One song out of the five prepared for the concert, is in a different language. It was one of the challenges that they had to face while preparing for the concert.  

Because it was in a different language, “…trying to get the right tone in… [was hard]” senior varsity choir student Jeok Luong said.  

Moreover, after the struggles and the concert, Choir will continue to host more concerts in the upcoming future. 

“[We’re] probably going to do a winter concert and like a spring concert and… maybe pop show,” senior chorale student Hannah Huynh said. 

 Even with the difficulties of trying to get back where they left off and the challenges they have faced in preparations, they still were determined to put the show together. 

“…We’ve got a lot of stuff coming up,” Winslow said.