The Black and White

by Bridget Pouliot

What were you doing during the Great Blizzard of 2026? Many people were staying cozy inside, or enjoying the snow outside by shoveling, sledding, and having snowball fights, but six Pilgrim High School students were at the Providence Mall and the Rhode Island Convention Center at the 2026 ACDA All-Eastern Conference.

Seniors Angelina Alves, Kaylee Lowe, Savannah Pacheco, and Bridget Pouliot, and juniors Allie Cameron and Addison Eaton found out they made it into the SSAA (treble – female voices) Honor Choir in November. Three months later, they braved the snowy streets of Providence to create music with other students from all over the Eastern region of the United States.

“Obviously, I audition partially because I want experience auditioning, the chance to perform in the groups, and even just to work one on one with Ms. Soares on technique for the audition,” Addison explained, “but really, the simplest and most fundamental reason was because I just wanted to know if I could make it in – and, if I didn’t, try to understand why not and improve my auditions for the future.”

The conference began on Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. This was a check-in day, where concert attire was approved and students participated in “part checks,” where they were asked to sing a small, randomly-selected part of each song to ensure they’d practiced their music. Thursday and Friday were filled mostly with rehearsals, but the girls still got to have fun grabbing dinner at the Providence Place Mall, watching the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus concert, and experiencing visits from and workshops with musicians such as Scott Hoying, Amanda Hanzlik, Matt Goldstein, Rollo Dilworth (a standout for the group) and their commissioned composer, Tehillah Alphonso. They also  explored a fair dedicated to music in college, buying sheet music, and more!

“The whole experience was fun,” Allie Cameron expressed. “I got to spend my days with five other amazing musicians and friends, singing our parts against each other and finding meals. I was really happy that I got to be able to go with girls I consider to be some of my favorite people.” She also explained that the rehearsals were extremely long, but that their conductor, Cindy Ellis, “made 14-hour days feel like eight.”

The SSAA choir conductor was Grammy-nominated Cindy Ellis. “I really liked our conductor and how she was always being herself with us when learning the music,” Savannah Pacheco explained. “I enjoyed when she would do fun warmups with us.”

The concert for the ACDA All-Eastern Honor Choirs was on Saturday, February 28th,  merely three days after the choir met each other and put the music together for the first time. 

“It all felt like a dream,” Addison Eaton described. “In the moment, it felt like we were just in a constant state of work-work-work, and then suddenly- oh! It’s our concert! And now it’s over,” she said. “I adored the concert. I was so proud of every single song that we did, and we got a standing ovation after my favorite song, which goes down as one of the coolest moments in my life.” She also shared tha tthe Providence Place Mall had “pretty good dumplings”, so that was also cool.

After a whirlwind of a week, the concert was a major success. The SSAA choir received a standing ovation after their commissioned piece, “Little Blue/Witness Me”, which premiered for the first time at the conference. The audience also gave the group a standing ovation after their final song, “Sigue”. 

“We, as a group, put a lot of time and effort into our songs, both in rehearsal and outside of rehearsal, and to see our group get not only one standing ovation, but two, really made this entire experience,” Allie Cameron expresse