Hays High School offers a vast number of opportunities, one of them being Chamber Singers, a program for accomplished singers, led by director Alex Underwood.

Underwood said he knew he wanted to be a high school choir teacher his junior year in high school when he was an alternate for the All-State Choir.

“I got to sing in that choir, and the clinician was really good,” Underwood said. “He was so funny and dramatic, and I had never like been in a choir like that before.”

After graduating from high school and from college, Underwood began teaching at Hays High in August 2018, and for seven years, he has taught vocal music here, including Chamber Singers.

According to Underwood, his favorite part of Chamber Singers is, “the community that we build, for sure.”

Throughout the year, the Chamber Singers had a variety of performances and events.

“I would say the two highlights for me would be performing the musical, and my second favorite thing was Chamber Singers got to spend a day with composer whose songs we had worked on,” Underwood said.

One of his students, sophomore Alexis Ryan, joined Chamber Singers this school year after being in choirs and in musicals previously.

“I really like music, and I really like singing, and I saw the community they had, and I really wanted to join,” Ryan said.

Ryan said that she plans to continue being in Chamber Singers for the upcoming year and that she loves the community of people it has given her. According to Ryan, her advice for people considering joining Chamber Singers is just to try.

“A lot of people think that they can’t do it, but honestly, you can learn,” Ryan said. “Like, it’s never too late to start practicing, and you can always get better.”

Even though Ryan has been singing for most of her life, she said she does not want to pursue singing later in life as a career path.

“I’d like to… not really,” Ryan said. “Just because it’s a hard industry.”

Overall, Ryan said she is glad that she joined Chamber Singers.

“It has given me something to work for, which is really nice,” Ryan said. “And, I mean, it’s given me a whole community. Like, I really love Chamber Singers. They are all my friends.”

Another Chamber Singer, senior Oscar Flores, has been a member of the singing group since his freshman year.

“I have actually been one of the longest Chamber Singers in the past 20 years since I have been here for four years,” Flores said.

Even though Flores has been a Chamber Singer during his whole high school career, his favorite thing about the group is not performing, but something Ryan also had mentioned.

“The community, the people,” Flores said. “I love just interacting, and I love being with those kinds of people. I just feel like they’re my people, you know, like, people I can really relate to.”

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