Sophie Mekelburg is a senior at Hart and Co-President of Show Choir. She joined choir as a freshman, following in the footsteps of her older sister who she’s always looked up to.

“I remember watching her on stage and thinking this was the most amazing thing I have ever seen,” said Mekelburg. Auditioning as a freshman, she got into the intermediate mixed group Hart n Soul. Later on, as a sophomore, she moved up to the advanced women’s group Hartbreakers, and finally, junior and senior year, she moved into the highest group, Sound Vibrations.

Mekelburg has had an interesting year as a choir president. She works closely with her co-president Olivia Lopez and director Mrs. Anders to make this year feel as normal as possible. One way she and Lopez recreate the typical atmosphere is with “Lunch in the Choir Room” days where every choir group is on one Zoom call to play games or bond.

Mekelburg’s favorite part about choir is what happens behind the scenes.

“It is kind of incredible [how] in less than a couple days, tech and our show choir can create, like, full sets while simultaneously surviving high school and personal problems at the same time,” Mekelburg said. The glam on stage would simply be nothing if not for the long, sweaty rehearsals or the chaos within the choir room.

This year has been full of uncertainty and surprises. Competition season is slowly approaching, and with COVID-19 restrictions, no one knows what the season will look like. However, she has found some comfort in performing recently. Sound Vibrations was given approval to come back to campus for safe rehearsals once a week. They meet in groups of eight, socially distanced, to dance and genuinely have fun.

Outside of choir, Mekelburg enjoys listening to music, reading, driving around, skateboarding and watching SNL. She also loves people watching, drinking coffee and going to Barnes and Noble or the beach with friends.