Kathryn Buser is a sophomore at Glendale High School. Even though she is still an underclassman, she continues to enroll in AP classes, along with some additional college courses, to challenge herself.
Kathryn was born and raised in Los Angeles, and her hobbies include singing, crocheting, writing, and reading. She also plays many instruments, such as guitar, bass, drums, and piano.
Kathryn went to elementary and middle school in the LA Unified School District. During elementary school, she was a part of the choir from second to fifth grade, and she was one of the youngest people in the program. Unfortunately, her middle school did not have a choir program, so she spent her time in the band program, where she learned to play several instruments.
Kathryn has been singing her entire life, and she is currently president of the Choir Club at GHS, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday at lunchtime. She is also vice president of both the Drama Club and Hiking Club. As you can see, she is very involved on campus at GHS.
This is the first time that the GHS Choir Club has returned to GHS, after several years of not having a vocal group on our campus. Kathryn mentioned that Ms. Buarenos, a physical education teacher and the cheer advisor at GHS, inspired her to join.
“She came to [my] drama class to say, ‘Hey, we’re starting Choir Club next year if any of you are interested,’” Kathryn recalled. “And about two or three other people [and I] were super interested.”
Kathryn immediately told Ms. Buarenos that she wanted to be part of the club and that she wanted to help with leadership. Due to Kathryn’s devoted love for singing, Ms. Buarenos asked her if she wanted to be president of the Choir Club and she accepted.
Initially, Kathryn wanted the Choir Club to be a thing, because “if we were to do a musical, I [would] need to make sure that the people who don’t feel confident in their singing can learn to be more confident in their singing. And those who are [confident] can find out their vocal ranges.”
Kathryn believes that this club is needed at GHS, because certain schools, like Wilson Middle School, already have choir programs. Those students who are in those programs won’t have a choir elective class to transition into when they come to our high school.
During Choir Club meetings, members spend the first five to ten minutes eating their lunches and doing vocal warmups. Recently, they have been practicing singing the “Star Spangled Banner” to sing at football games and the Variety Show at GHS. They also discuss song and event ideas, such as singing “Carol of the Bells” in the wintertime.
Kathryn revealed that she struggled at first to convince people to join the club at the Club Rush event in September. She believes that this is because “it’s not something you could just show up to for one day.”
“For Choir Club to be successful, you can’t be there unless you’re singing,” Kathryn said. “So, just for people to even sign up, they have to…be like, ‘Okay, I guess I’m gonna sing twice a week.’”
Kathryn believes that COVID-19 had a damaging effect on the previous choir program at GHS since they couldn’t sing as a group over Zoom. She revealed, “We have to start completely from scratch pretty much, so it’s all me and Ms. Buarenos trying to figure out what songs we’re doing and how to teach it [to the members of the club].”
Kathryn’s favorite part about being president of the Choir Club is being able to stay after practice and speak with Ms. Buarenos, to discuss their meetings and further plan things. She likes “getting down to business.” She also enjoys getting people to join the club, because she believes everyone can be a confident singer. She further tries to “cultivate new interests.”
Kathryn hopes to be an actress in the future and hopefully perform on Broadway. Her passion is musical theater, as she has already done some performances on stage, and she finds a lot of value in performing. She is hoping to get into USC or NYU since they are both schools that have great drama programs.
If you are interested in joining the Choir Club at Glendale High School, you can email Ms. Buarenos, at [email protected]. And come to the Variety Show this Friday to watch Kathryn and her fellow club members perform the song “Espresso”! Sing your hearts out, Nitros!
