“I’m pretty attached to these girls,” admits Mireille Pruneau, singer-songwriter and Richmond Regional High School music teacher. “I remember telling my husband, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can handle it if only one of them makes it to the [provincial] finals.’”
“But in the end, we’re all going together! For me that was the best present I could possibly get,” she exclaims. “I’m just so proud of them. I’m so happy.”
Despite the challenges and frustrations and cancellations that have plagued these Covid years, Anaïs Goulet, Pénélope Vachon, Lindsay Maurice-Morin and Daphne Maurice-Morin persisted when others dropped out.
In a typical year, the path to the final stage of Secondaires en spectacle may have been more certain, but the reward would not have been shared and may not have been so sweet.
Between maternity leaves, Pruneau has guided students through the competition three or four times in the last ten years. “You’d have to check, but I think we’re the only school in the ETSB to ever do this contest,” she says. “I remember some [students] went to regionals and were selected to go to the panquébécois stage. But they didn’t make it, they didn’t go. I think it was in Rivière du Loup, and it’s hard when they’re graduating and working, plus transportation. There are a lot of factors.”
Despite being an English school, the competition is in French. RRHS students were all singing, although the competition is across all genres of performance. Goulet and Vachon had selected to compete in the “interpretation” category, singing a solo song from the repertoire. Goulet chose “Les échardes” by Charlotte Cardin and Vachon had “Si t’étais là” by Louane. Sisters, Lindsay and Daphne Maurice-Morin had chosen to enter the “creation” category, performing Daphne’s song “Grandir.”
