When Jon Bullock took over West Marion High School Show Choir four years ago, he and a handful of dedicated students started working hard, and now they are reaping the success of what they sowed by winning the Northeast Jones Classic Feb. 12.
The show choir received its first first-place finish at the event for the small mixed division, bringing excitement and tears to everyone involved.
The first-place finish comes after New Era, the show choir’s chosen name, earned second-place awards in the two previous competitions this year.
"This is the best start we have had since I have been here," Bullock said.
The show choir will compete in a total of seven competitions this year. At a competition on Feb. 19, it placed just outside of the top three and finished fourth.
Bullock said at the Northeast Jones Classic, the choir was not even originally scheduled to participate, but with Covid canceling the original contest it was planning to attend, New Era chose to enter the one at Northeast Jones with great success.
"We really weren't planning on going, and we ended up taking the whole thing," Bullock said.
However, while the choir as a whole is having a phenomenal year, it is not the only one. At the Feb. 19 competition, Skyla Jones received the top performer of the group award, and on Feb. 5, at the Pearl River Community College Mississippi Show Choir Contest, both Eddriunna Barnes and Madeline Russell earned the best performers in the group award.
The choir’s program is set to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." Joshua Buchanan portrays Frankenstein, green-faced and all. Bullock said the program this year has been most received to date.
Twice already this year, New Era also received on award for Best Show Design.
He said the choir is not sitting back and basking in the thrill of the first three contests but working hard to get better for the remaining contests.
"They are trying to get better every day," he said.
For all the success this year, Bullock is quick to say it isn't about him.
"Some of these kids have been here with me since 2018. They really are the foundations of the ideals and culture we are as a program," he said.
Bullock said jokingly that the students are as crazy as he is because they have a choice, and yet, they keep coming back.
He said he reminded the younger ones this year that they are collecting from all of the hard work the older ones have put in to build the foundation of the program, which wasn't built overnight.
If the show choir continues to have a great season, Bullock believes more students will show an interest in joining.
"Kids want to be a part of something that has success. Whether it is football, archery, baseball, it doesn't matter. If that group is having success, then other people will want to be involved with it," he said.
For now, though, the focus is on finishing the season with the same success they began with. The New Era Show Choir will compete in the Petal Invitational on Saturday, at the Magnolia Invitation in Hattiesburg on March 5 and finish up the season on the Coast at the Biloxi Invitational on March 12.
