Storm Lake High School spring concert showcases strong music program

Storm Lake High School’s spring concert put the band, Bass Clef Choir, Treble Clef Choir, JV Choir and Varsity Choir on the same program Thursday evening, giving the school a clear snapshot of how much of the student body is active in music as the year moved toward its final month. The band alone had 70 members under Ashley Stueven, a size that gave the performance the full sound that has become one of the clearest markers of the program’s reach in Storm Lake.

Max Wallace directed the Bass Clef Choir, which included Angel Blanco Padilla, Angel Palmerin-Lucht, Erol Dineros, Jackson Mills, Armando Ponce, Gad Faanmog, Austin Soumetho, Jesus Garcia and Eden Etse. With multiple choirs sharing the stage alongside the band, the concert showed a program built on more than one strong ensemble. It reflected a music department that is spreading students across instrumental and vocal groups, from junior varsity singers to varsity voices and a large concert band.

The spring concert also fit into a larger pattern that has become hard to ignore in Storm Lake schools. In March, the Storm Lake Music Department reported 292 students in grades 5 through 12 enrolled in band programs, and district music participation has been described as growing nearly every year. That places the high school’s 70-member band inside a much wider pipeline that starts in the lower grades and continues through the upper-level ensembles seen at Storm Lake High School.

District and booster support has helped make that growth visible. The Storm Lake Community School District funded new concert band uniforms for the December 2025 winter concert, while the Storm Lake Music Boosters bought new choir robes. In another choir performance, the varsity choir wore robes purchased by the boosters, showing that family and community backing has remained part of the program’s identity as the ensembles have expanded.

That consistency matters in a district where music has also produced individual distinction. Nine Storm Lake High School musicians were selected for Iowa All-State Band, Chorus and Orchestra in October 2023, a sign that the same program fielding large ensembles on a Thursday night has also pushed students into one of the state’s most selective honors. Stueven has said joining Storm Lake High School was a “dream position,” after student-teaching there and volunteering with the marching band. Taken together, the spring concert looked less like a routine recital than a public measure of a program that is still drawing students, support and results.