photo by: Mike Yoder

Free State High School choir director Hilary Morton leads students in the Chamber Choir through rehearsals Monday at the high school. The choir will perform at a public concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School along with the Lawrence High School A Cappella Choir.

Choirs from both Lawrence and Free State high schools will perform a free community concert on Thursday.

The concert is celebrating the fact that choirs from both schools were selected to perform at the state music education conference. Lawrence High and Free State are two of just five high school choirs that were chosen for the honor, and choir instructors Dwayne Dunn and Hilary Morton say it’s a unique happening for both to be selected in the same year.

The Lawrence Free State High School Chamber Choir and the Lawrence High School A Cappella Choir were both selected to perform at the 2016 State In-Service Convention of the Kansas Music Educators Association later this month.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Free State High School choir director Hilary Morton leads students in the Chamber Choir through rehearsals Monday at the high school. The choir will perform at a public concert at 7 p.m. Thursday at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School along with the Lawrence High School A Cappella Choir.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence High School choir director Dwayne Dunn, at right, leads the A Cappella Choir through rehearsals Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at LHS.

The community concert will preview the Lawrence High and Free State KMEA performances. The concert is free and open to public and will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, 1400 Massachusetts St.

The KMEA concerts will be held at the Century II Convention Center in Wichita. The Free State choir will sing at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 25 and the Lawrence High choir at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 26.

In other news and notes from Lawrence public schools for Feb. 8:

– Kennedy Elementary School is hosting
a fundraiser at Chipotle, 1420 W.
23rd St. Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
families can show the fundraiser
flier or simply tell the cashier they
are supporting the Kennedy PTO and
the school will receive 50 percent of
the proceeds.
– Monday is the first day of the
Schwegler Elementary School book
drive. From Feb. 8 through Feb. 15,
the school will be collecting
donations of gently used or new
books. Parents can send the books to
school with their student, and the
class that collects the most books
will have a cake to celebrate.
– For parents of ninth-graders who will
attend Free State High School next
year, the parent enrollment meeting
will be held at 7 p.m. at Free State.