Four Leesburg High School (LHS) graduate students are now finalists vying for the chance to perform at The Radio City Musical Hall Christmas Spectacular through “Dove Hair Cares Brush with Greatness Sing4all Challenge.”
The winners will be able to perform the night of Dec. 28 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City and also to get the chance to meet Idina Menzel from the Broadway Musical “Wicked.” Kristen Heim, Stirling Spasaro, Katelyn Hon and Casie Willis are all graduates of Leesburg High School who sang in the Leesburg High School Madrigals/Innovation’s Choir directed by Karyl Elton.
To enter the contest, the four girls videotaped themselves singing their version of “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” and uploaded their tape to the national contest website. The preliminary voting took place online at www.DoveSing4all.com.
Their video was titled “Our Favorite Things!” The first stage voting ended Nov. 21 with the Leesburg High grads receiving 264 votes. They were recently notified by Dove that they are now moving onto the finalist round. As finalists, they have won a 30-minute video chat with Menzel.
The final round of voting is to begin on Dec. 3. All Facebook members are encouraged to vote once each day. The girls that are in the group are:
· Kristen Heim, 19 is a Leesburg native and a 2009 Leesburg High School graduate. She was class president all four years and was a member of Madrigals. She now attends the University of South Florida (USF) where she is a sophomore pre-nursing major and Senator for the College of Nursing in Student Government at USF.
· Stirling Spasaro, 19, is a 2009 Leesburg High School graduate, where she was active in Madrigals, BETA Club and an Ambassador for Rachel’s Challenge. She now attends Florida State University where she is a sophomore majoring in Italian studies and minoring in Art History. She is very active volunteer within the Tropic Troupe, a local theater group for kids headed by Scott Baltunis.
· Katelyn Hon, 19, a Leesburg native and a 2009 Leesburg High School graduate, attends Lake-Sumter Community College (LSCC). She was dual enrolled at LSCC in high school and was President of Madrigals. She will be pursuing a degree in veterinary medicine at a Florida school after graduating from LSCC in the spring.
· Casie Willis, 19, a Lady Lake native and a 2010 Leesburg High School graduate, attends LSCC. She was dual enrolled at LSCC in high school and was president of Madrigals. She will be graduating from LSCC in May. She has an audition in February for the School of Music at Florida State University as a music theater major.