The Greene County High School choir is heading into a busy part of their season.

Director David Heupel says their jazz group, the Jazzatonics, were selected as one of only eight schools in Class 3A to perform at the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships on March 29th at West Des Moines Valley High School. Heupel points out there is a change to qualifying schools this year, limited to just eight, due to there being too many schools getting in. He is proud of the effort his students made to qualify for their fifth straight IVJC competition. He is also looking forward to improving their 10th place finish last year against 14 qualifying schools.

Six female students sang the National Anthem at one of the evening sessions of the boys’ state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena Tuesday. Those that performed include Nadia Fisher, Kenna Marquardt, Maddie Schroeder, Emily Heupel, Taliyah Carr and Hannah Promes. Heupel notes that for some of these girls, they’ve performed multiple times at the state basketball tournament.

Finally, the Jazzatonics were also selected to perform the National Anthem when the Harlem Globetrotters come to Des Moines on April 10th. Heupel says he was contacted by Nevada Middle School choir director and Jefferson-Scranton graduate Lisa Ott, who is the chair of the Iowa Choral Director’s Association. Ott mentioned her alma mater sang the National Anthem at various locations and Heupel accepted the request.