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Logos photo by Matty Smith Sophomore Alycia Brunsvold works on her steps for a Singers routine last spring prior to the annual performance of Quodlibet.

Singers feel like part of family

Matthew H. Smith
For the Logos

According to choral director Jayson Ryner, there’s something a little strange about the NIACC Singers.

“(NIACC Singers) is full of people who have really strong personalities and they all love to perform,” Ryner said. “They love to have the lights hitting them in the face. And when you get that many strong personalities together in one room, you have a pretty big dynamic.”

The NIACC Singers is a group of enthusiastic young students who perform many numbers throughout the school year, including holiday concerts and the annual Quodlibet, all under the lead of Ryner.

“It’s a fun group,” Ryner said. “They spend a lot of time together, so they really know each other well.”

Two students who began Singers last year, Alycia Brunsvold and Ryan Hoskins, couldn’t agree more.

Brunsvold and Hoskins have said that although the majority of Singers participants don’t have much in common as a whole, they have singing - and this is what ultimately brings them together.

“I was really nervous because I didn’t know a lot of people,” Brunsvold said about her experience coming into the group the previous year. “But everybody here was really welcoming.”

Brunsvold, who graduated from Newman Catholic High School, said she’s been involved in music most of her life, but it wasn’t until Singers that she felt like she truly belonged.

“All of us are big nerds,” Brunsvold said. “I remember when I would hang out with my friends, I was always the nerd who wanted to sing and dance. When I came to (NIACC Singers)... I felt like I fit right in.”

Hoskins, who graduated from Algona High School and currently plays baseball for NIACC, said he felt the same way. With music being such an influential part of his life, Hoskins said he’s never before had an experience quite as unique as the Singers.

“If there’s a group that I would want to hang out with and have the most fun with, it would be these guys,” Hoskins said. No one - Ryner, Brunsvold or Hoskins - really seems to know exactly why the NIACC Singers get along so well. After all, Ryner said, they spend every waking minute together. But nonetheless, the group seems like an inseparable force of nature.

“I really think we’re the closest group on campus,” Hoskins said. “It’s kind of a cool thing. When I first came in (to the NIACC Singers), I thought, ‘Whoa, this is crazy.’ But you get into it, you get used to it and pretty soon you’re just part of the family.”