Selma High choir launches special fund-raiser for spring field trip

By Gabriel Dillard of the Selma Enterprise

Selling candy has always been a proven way for students to raise money in school, but the Selma High School chamber choir will be taking a different approach this holiday season.

They are going to sell themselves. Or at least their talent.

For the month of December, the 33-member chamber choir will be available to perform a 30-minute concert for a donation of $200 a performance. They can perform at parties or other social gatherings, and their show will include minor choreography, staging and costumes.

Their showcase will be a Christmas medley, called “Christmas Time Is Here” by Mac Huff and John Jacobsen, which includes a variety of holiday standards.

Choir teacher Mai Betterley said the goal of the fund-raiser is to earn $5,000…

While fund raising is a fact of life for many students involved in school activities, Betterley wanted to find a way to avoid the obligatory candy sale. She knows a choir teacher at Sunnyside High School in Fresno who coordinated a similar performance fund-raiser. Hearing a good idea, Betterley acted.

“I stole his idea,” Betterley said. “It wasn’t something brilliant. It came down to selling candy all year or putting some music together and selling what they want to do, which is perform.”…

If the fund-raiser goes according to plan, that will mean nearly one performance a day for the month. But the chamber choir is used to hard work, as they rehearse every morning at 7:15 a.m. before school starts…

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