Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball singer Amy Birkhofer is making a name for herself with help from Kimball High vocal teacher Jacob Hoffman.
Out of 160 recordings of the "Star Spangled Banner" submitted to the Nebraska School Activities Association, seven high school students were selected to sing the national anthem at the recent NSAA Football Championships.
Students from Lincoln, Omaha, Wayne, Aurora, Pawnee City were all represented – as was Kimball High School junior Amy Birkhofer.
With the help of her high school vocal teacher, Jacob Hoffman, Amy's recorded audition was sent into NSAA and by the beginning of November, the teacher notified Amy that she was selected to sing at the C-1 championship game between Pierce and Adams Central.
The games were originally supposed to be played at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, and Amy would have been singing there, but all the games were moved to a high school home site as a result of COVID-19.
Amy, herself had a close call with COVID-19. She was identified as a "close contact" of someone testing positive for COVID-19. Although she had a "mask on," she was still quarantined and, according to Amy, she "got out just Thursday" and the game was on Friday.
Amy, her family and friend, Payton Wise, made the 400-mile drive to Pierce, leaving early Friday morning. Pierce is north of Columbus.
Locally, Amy has sung the "Star-Spangled Banner" before football and volleyball games, and she was included in a group of Kimball students that sang for the NSAA Track and Field Championship.
But this was the first time she sang for such a large crowd. She said she was not nervous beforehand, but got "pretty nervous once at the field."
