Moving Forward: A Pivotal Season for Synergy
All photos submitted by Emma Suneja
The 2025-2026 Synergy season is coming to an end and the team has made efforts this season in getting the team back on track. The team went through a rough season last year, not making it to finals in all but one competition and getting brutal feedback from judges and critiques, so this season was important to get the team back on top.
How A Competition Works
The way that show choir competitions work is that there are two rounds of performances. Everyone performs in the first round, called prelims, and only the top six scoring teams from the varsity division make it to the final round. Prelims are based on a rubric that is composed of vocals, dancing, cleanliness, professionalism, band, and crew. Each of these individual categories are judged by a panel of professionals. The finals performance at most competitions is not based on a rubric, but purely how entertaining the show is. The judges rank each performance from 1-6, 1 being the most entertaining and 6 being the least out of the top scoring six teams from prelims.
Milton: Rock the Rock
The Synergy team headed out to their first competition, Milton: Rock the Rock, which is a beloved competition by the team. The group came out strong with an entertaining prelim performance, but came up just short of 2 points to make it to finals. Synergy placed 7th overall out of 12 teams. It was a very close competition and the team left feeling confident about how the rest of the season was going to go. Also, huge shoutout to senior Josiah Bender for winning best bass soloist in a set!
Sauk Prairie Music Show Choir Invitational
Sauk Prairie was the second competition of the season and is historically a very difficult competition. Many members were nervous going into this competition because the competition was composed of 14 teams including multiple from out of state. Out of state show choir teams typically come to Wisconsin in order to beat Wisconsin teams, so it was no surprise to find out that two out of state teams made it to finals. Synergy ended up coming in 10th place, but there were only 5 points that separated 6th place and 10th. The competition was extremely close and despite the lower placement, Synergy members were still proud of the work they had accomplished.
Destination De Pere: Lets Jam!
De Pere was a highly anticipated competition because Synergy did not compete at De Pere last season. The team did not make it to finals during the 2023-2024 season with the set, Take Me to the River, and former director Maggie Condon decided not to attend the competition the following year. This was Synergy’s third competition weekend in a row, so the team was eager to make it to finals. This competition was composed of 8 teams in the varsity division, so the team was excited about their chances of going to finals. Synergy did end up going to finals and placed 5th overall with Josiah Bender, again, winning outstanding bass soloist in a set.
Monona Grove Silverstage Invitational
After taking a week off of competitions in order for half of the team to participate in the winter production of The Outsiders, Synergy was back and ready to take on Monona Grove. The final competition of the season left the team with a lot of strong emotions that fed into a great performance. Everyone was in tears stepping off of the stage, having just put their all into the prelim performance. The team did not make it to finals at Monona Grove, but they left knowing that it was the best performance they could’ve given. Josiah Bender ended up winning 3rd place for the solo competitions that competed throughout the day, so the team stayed after afternoon awards to watch Josiah perform his solo competition song, “My Petersburgh” from Anastasia, on the large stage for an excited audience.
An Homage to the Class of 2026
The class of 2026 has taken on the brunt of the craziness that has been the last couple of years. Freshman year for these seniors was former director MC’s first year. She made a lot of changes about how the team looked, which was upsetting for a lot of the class of 2023. Many seniors left the class of 2026 feeling that the future of Synergy was bleak, which left the team feeling scared. The 2023-2024 competition season was a dream come true for Synergy. The team was making finals at almost every single competition and ended the season winning Grand Champions for the first time in Synergy history. It seemed like Synergy was going to become a force to be reckoned with in the following years. The problem started with the 2024-2025 competition season. The theme of the set was ambitious, and most Synergy members were confused as to what the show was trying to accomplish. The season was difficult since MC left halfway through the competition season. The team was angry, upset, and rightfully confused as to what was going to happen. The class of 2026 made up some of the leadership, and a lot of the energy that kept the team going throughout the season came from the class of 2026.
These seniors went into the 2025-2026 competition season knowing that they were the example. The rest of Synergy was looking up to how they reacted to the changes the new director, Ms. Ramsey, was going to make. The seniors were well aware that they had to be open to changes, roll with the punches, and show the underclassmen that every change was going to be for the benefit of the team. Having the background of the class of 2023 leaving Synergy with the ominous message that MC’s changes were going to ruin Synergy, the class of 2026 knew that this was the moment to break the cycle. Even though the competition season was not the most successful, it was a pivotal moment in the history of Synergy largely due to the behavior of the class of 2026. Thank you, seniors, for all of your hard work this season!
As our dear friend, Sam from De Pere Jam Session said, “I’m glad I’m graduating so that I don’t have to compete against her [Ms. Ramsey’s] Synergy. She is really going to bring the team back.” While this season was a crucial part of reconstructing Synergy, it was all worth it because the team is only going to grow from here.
