Two students in the Lehighton Area School District have attained special honors - a freshman who will be part of a national chorus and a senior who is selected to participate in a district chorus.

Michael Perkins, the son of David and Beth Perkins and a student at Lehighton Area Middle School, was selected from over 1,200 applications to the American Choral Directors Association's National Junior High Honor Choir in Chicago.Kirk Arner, a senior, has been selected to the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association's District 10 Chorus, which will meet in mid-January at Easton Area High School.The American Choral Directors Association's National Junior High Honor Choir is made up of 300 auditioned students encompassing students from 37 states. Only five students from Pennsylvania were selected to this ensemble.The students will converge in Chicago on March 9-13, 2011. The group will have three days of intensive rehearsals with their conductor, Dr. Rollo Dilworth, from Temple University.Perkins is actively involved in the Concert Choir, Show Choir (Music Express), Barbershop Quartet, Varsity Voice (vocal jazz), Odyssey of the Mind, and the freshman football program.He has been involved in chorus for five years and band for four years. While in band he played the trumpet and had studied the violin with Agnes Maurer for seven years.He enjoys being active in sports and supporting the Indians. He plans to continue his activities and is looking forward to performing in the National Honor Choir.He said he is also looking forward to performing with American Music Abroad (AMA) during the summer of 2012. AMA is an honor program for choirs, bands, and orchestras that travel to Europe each summer for a 20-day tour.Arner is the son of Kirk and Pam Arner from East Penn TownshipOver 850 students from seven counties auditioned for the prestigious district choir. The conductor for the festival is Amy Allibon. Amy is in her 22nd year of teaching choral music in Texas where she also serves as President of the Texas Choral Directors Association. Her choirs have performed in the United States, Italy, England and Austria.Arner is involved in National Honor Society, Scholastic Scrimmage, Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate, Future Business Leaders of America, and Red Cross Club.He is ranked number one in his class, writes for the school newspaper, is on the Varsity Tennis Team, and participates in choir, show choir, county chorus, "Varsity Voices" select a cappella group, select male quartet, drama club, and even finds time to perform in his community theatre.He plans on attending a four year college to major in either law or political science. This is Kirk's second consecutive year in district choir.