ADM Middle School students Evelynn Stanzyk and Josephine Fountas pose for a photo. Allison Ullmann/Raccoon Valley Radio

Adel-DeSoto-Minburn Middle School students will have the chance to perform with singers from across the state today.

Six ADM students were selected for the OPUS Honor Choir, which is sponsored by the Iowa Choral Directors Association. Over 3,000 students across the state auditioned for one of the four fifth through ninth grade honor choirs. Of those, 720 were selected to sing in the OPUS Honor Choir in Ames. 

ADM students selected include sixth graders Stella Fountas, Ava Johnson and Lark Heater; seventh grader Evelynn Stanzyk, eighth grader Josephine Fountas and ninth grader Dawson Foster.

Foster was selected for both OPUS and All-State Chorus and will perform at All-State on Saturday. The other five students will perform today in Ames. 

Eighth grader Josephine Fountas says she was surprised to find out she was selected for OPUS, even after performing with the honor choir last year.

“I was honestly really shocked because last year I was the only one in seventh grade to make it for ADM. That was kind of like a shock for me because I didn’t think that’s what would happen. So then this year, when (the choir director) said only one person made it in eighth grade, I was like ‘Oh, well probably not me.’ Then she told me I made it and I was pretty shocked, but I was really proud of myself.”

Seventh grader Evelynn Stanzyk talks about what she is looking forward to the most when they sing today.

“I’m excited because it’s on campus, so that’s going to be a fun experience. And it’s going to be a really big auditorium, and it’s somewhere I’ve never performed.”

The concert begins at 4 p.m. today at Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University in Ames. The All-State Festival Concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.