BROWNSTOWN — In just five days, 19 students from three schools learned the lyrics and choreography for four songs.

Also, two of the girls added solos to the mix, and two other girls performed a duet.

Along with learning the songs and dancing, they gained experience with stage presence and the elements of getting onstage and performing.

The second Emerging Voices summer show choir camp was hosted by Brownstown Central High School’s choir department, and choral director Stephanie Brock had 11 of her students participate along with seven from Salem and one from Scottsburg.

“They are growing at so many different levels. They really, really are,” Brock said.

She said the camp once again was a good jump-start for the Showchoir Camps of America, which is next week in Ohio. Brock is taking nine students there, and that has been a longtime tradition at BCHS.

“This is a great starter camp, I think, for the big Showchoir Camps of America if they are not sure because that is far from home and it’s overwhelming, so this is a nice foot in the door to see ‘Am I really going to like it or not?’” Brock said.

Brock served as camp host director of Emerging Voices, which ran from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. daily June 27 to July 1, and Alisha Griffin was assistant camp host director.

Verda Slinkard, who is entering her third year as show choir director at Salem middle and high schools, was camp clinician vocal director. She has been in the show choir world since 1976, leading school groups to numerous national awards and serving on the Showchoir Camps of America staff for 36 years.

She and Brock have a fun history.

“When I was a student here at Brownstown and Mrs. (Jan) Willey was the director, she took me to a summer show choir camp at Indiana State University, and the director was Verda,” Brock said. “We’re talking the ’80s, and fast forward many years later, Jan retires, I come into Jan’s position and Jan said, ‘Hey, I signed these kids up to go to Showchoir Camps of America in Ohio. I’ve got two going. You’re registered in my spot to get them there.’”

In one of the workshop sessions, Brock saw Slinkard’s name and said there was no way there’s another Verda in the show choir world. At the end of the workshop, Brock asked if she facilitated a camp at ISU.

“She goes, ‘Are you one of my kids?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am,’” Brock said. “She was wonderful because that was my first year to come here to the high school and middle school. I had taught at the elementary before, so I had a lot to learn.”

As they walked together across campus, Slinkard shared her contact information with Brock. Over the years, Slinkard has led show choirs at Edgewood, Lafayette Jefferson and now Salem schools, and she has stayed in touch with Brock and become a mentor to her.

When Brock decided to start Emerging Voices in the summer of 2021, she knew who to contact to help.

“She’s the best in the business, and we’ve got her here,” Brock said.

At different times throughout her career, Slinkard has worked with award-winning choreographer Marty DeMott, who has been in the business for more than 40 years, and he drove down from Indianapolis twice last week to work with the students at the Brownstown camp. Grace Pacheco also came to choreograph a song.

“It has just been such a wonderful opportunity for these kids,” Brock said.

On Friday, the students applied everything they learned into a free performance for family, friends and the community.

“I love watching the kids grow and develop in a week,” Slinkard said, noting how two students in particular blossomed with stronger moves and facial expressions. “It’s just a good experience to perform.”

Brock said just like the name of the camp, the students’ voices emerged.

“Finding their voice, finding out what makes them special and why they are so connected to music and how powerful it can be in their life and what can they do with that to become an asset in their schools, in their community,” she said. “This is a life-changing experience. It really is. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.”

The camp is open to students in grades 6 to 12. Brock said she emailed choir and show choir directors in the area earlier this year to let them know about the unique local opportunity and later followed up with phone calls. The cost is $150, which covers the cost of the music, directors, choreographers and T-shirts.

“We’re hopeful that directors will communicate to students and parents this opportunity so even if they can’t come as a school, the parent has a student who is interested and we can work out a way for them to get here,” Brock said. “We really want to get the word out there about this camp because we would love for it to grow in the years to come. We plan to continue to do it with the support of our corporation.”

Slinkard said the same amount of music and choreography are done at the Brownstown and national camps, and both allow students who just graduated from high school to attend.

The national camp costs $800 and features Broadway stars and other big-named people from across the United States, Brock said.

“We have had some wonderful people in our community want to sponsor a child to go,” she said.

Brownstown’s Silas Norman and Salem’s Maddie Brown were among the Emerging Voices attendees.

Both said they do a musical or performances and are members of the choir at their schools, so that drew them to the local camp.

They liked working with other students and meeting new people.

“A lot of working together really helps get stuff done,” Norman said.

“I liked making new friends and just meeting other people around the southern part of Indiana,” Brown said. “I enjoyed learning how to vocally do better.”

Both were part of the group songs Friday night, and Brown was a soloist on the song “Head Over Feet.”

“Tying in choreography and singing, that was hard. We didn’t start singing with it until (Friday),” Brown said.

“Yeah, it was very hard,” Norman said of dancing and singing at the same time. “But it was pretty simple just working with others. It’s not that hard.”

While performing a solo for the first time was nerve-racking for Brown, she said it was fun.

“I had done solos within songs. I wanted to (do a solo) since I had never done it before, and they did look for people to do solos, so I was like, ‘OK,’” she said. “It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.”

They encourage other students to attend the show choir camp in the future.

“It’s really fun, and you get to learn about dancing,” Brown said.

“It’s fun, you make friends and do a lot of fun stuff,” Norman said.