On Nov. 17 and 18, the Hays High School orchestras participated in the Western Kansas Orchestra Festival (WKOF).

The festival brought together nine schools from western Kansas: Beloit, Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Hutchinson, McPherson, Salina Central and Salina South. Hays took 31 high school students to participate in the festival.

The festival consisted of four different orchestras, two for middle school and two for high school. The orchestras spent Friday with clinicians, rehearsing pieces for their performance on Saturday. Different guest clinicians worked with the students to help the schools put together the pieces.

After hours of rehearsals both days, the orchestras put together solid performances, showing growth and togetherness with other schools.

“What I like most about WKOF is spending time with my friends, seeing friends from other schools and meeting new people,” senior Evyn Cox said. “Getting to work with students and directors I don’t usually get to work with is a great experience and a lot of fun.”

25ctholstrup@usd489.com