News Releases

Choir Performs Halloween Concert in Costume

Costumes are encouraged when the 170-member Alma College Choir performs a special Halloween concert from 11 p.m. until the witching hour in the Dunning Memorial Chapel.

Admission is free and open to the public.

“We’ve done 10 to 12 Halloween concerts over the years,” says Will Nichols, who is in his 26th year as choir director at Alma College. “There is no good reason to do a Halloween concert except to have fun and to revel in the day.

“We perform in the Chapel because it’s closest to the campus dorms for our students; plus, the Chapel historically is a sanctuary to protect ourselves from any evil spirits that may be out on Halloween night,” he says.

The concert is an opportunity for the full choir to perform as well as for students to sing solos, duets and in other small groups.

“The students come up with the music,” says Nichols. “Some might mention Halloween, ghosts and goblins, but it’s not necessary.

“The cool part is the costumes,” he adds. “The students have to wear costumes, and we have had some fabulous costumes in past years.”

While costumes are required for the choir members, they are optional, though encouraged, for the audience.

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Spring Term at Alma is a one-month immersion on a single academic topic that offers learning experiences not typically available during the more traditional 15-week fall and winter terms. For example, during Spring Term 2012, students observed lizards in Bermuda, studied modern economic development in India, performed dance in Taiwan, examined renewable energy in Europe and investigated medicinal plants in the Amazon rainforest.

 

Faculty Profile

Dr. Keith Wise
Departments: Religious Studies

Dr. Keith J. Wise always wanted to be a college professor. Though he found his calling in the ministry, teaching still followed him. He comes from a family of teachers — his mother and both grandmothers taught in the public schools in Ohio.

Wise was asked to teach an ancient history class at Alma while a pastor at the St. Louis Church of Christ, where he has been for over 15 years. He has since taught a variety of courses in the areas of ancient history and religious studies department.