Wheaton Warrenville South filled with song

David Davis had little time to talk. The choral group he was assigned to needed water. And they needed it fast.

"I may need to find some time to sneak away and take a nap after this," the Wheaton Warrenville South High School senior said during a break Saturday. He was one of dozens of students playing host to schools competing at Wheaton South's second annual Choral Classic.

More than 1,200 students from 28 schools spent the day performing during the invitational event that doubled as a fundraiser for the Wheaton school's own choral program. While final totals weren't yet tallied, organizers said they hoped to raise more than $10,000.

Each school was welcomed with practice rooms festooned with posters, streamers and, in the case of nearby Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, a little nap area for the performers.

"We just wanted to make it as great a day as possible for all the performers," said Davis, who was at the school by 7 a.m. setting up the Waubonsie Valley room.

The daylong performances made for a frenetic atmosphere all around the school, as choral groups prepped inside classrooms, gym space and at the bottom of school stairwells. Fresh off their performances, several freshmen students from West Jones High School in Laurel, Miss., spent the afternoon just lounging in the hallway. The singers drove 16 hours to perform at Wheaton South, an experience that made for some interesting discoveries. "Some of the people on the bus slept with their eyes open," said 15-year-old Kristen Pope. "It was really freaky."

Thomas Coe, director of La Porte (Ind.) High School's Treble Chorale, spent the few minutes before the group's performance giving the singers a final set of instructions.

This is the second year the Indiana school has traveled to Wheaton to perform, a trip Coe said helps tweak the group in preparation for Indiana state competition later in the spring.

"We get some great critical feedback from the judges here," Coe said, "which doesn't happen at most competitions."