Kingfisher Middle School’s Breona McConnell received accolades for her work and won a pair of awards at the second annual Southwest Alliance for Girls’ Enrichment in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Humanities and Mathematics (SAGE STEAM) Camp at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford recently.

McConnell earned a robotics team award granted by Devon Energy and an individual award for arts and humanities issued by the Weatherford Arts Council during the awards ceremony at SWOSU on June 15.

McConnell then shifted her focus in July to music attending THE Music Camp at the University of Central Oklahoma’s School of Music the week of July 7-13 culminating in a concert at UCO’s Mitchell Hall Theatre on the final day.

Singing soprano, McConnell said she most enjoyed singing Cantate Domino, a Latin song formed from Psalm 98.

Lastly, after an intense three-day mini-camp July 14-16, McConnell sang with Voce Spiritus (Voices of Spirit) directed by Dr. Darla Eshelman of UCO in Sharp Concert Hall at the Catlett Music Center on the campus of the University of Oklahoma before summer conference attendees from the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association (OkCDA).

Voce Spiritus is the premier choir for the Central Oklahoma Solfa Youth Chorus Program (COSYC) founded by Dr. Eshelman, who personally invited McConnell to audition last February.

This was McConnell’s second performance with Voce Spiritus, and she said she is looking forward to starting rehearsals in the fall for their next concert.

With her STEAM-focused summer, Breona added she is eagerly awaiting the start of eighth grade in the fall and is preparing to audition for the Oklahoma All-State Choir.

Much of the music she learned during the UCO music camp was in preparation for those auditions.