Academics
Academic Divisions (JK-12)
Upper School

Standout Spartan: Hailey Wharram '21

Steward senior earns first place in Summer Palooza Music Festival contest.
When Hailey Wharram '21 heard about The Cadence Theatre Company's inaugural Summer Palooza Music Festival, she was hesitant about submitting a song to the virtual showcase. "I had never entered any sort of contest before," she said. "Mr. Smith forwarded me the details and said that Mrs. Sanford had a connection to the theatre company, and I thought, why not put myself out there?"

She certainly didn't expect to take home the top prize in the Best At-Home Performance category for her original song entitled "The Dark Side of the Moon," which you can view in full on YouTube. (Skip to the 24:36 mark below for Hailey's performance.) The song — unrelated to the Pink Floyd album of the same name — draws inspiration from the music of Taylor Swift, whom Hailey described as "setting the blueprint" for young musicians like herself.

Hailey picked up guitar in third grade, and despite writing her first songs five years ago, it was just within the last year that she began sharing them with others. The Summer Palooza Music Festival invited high school and college freshmen musicians from all over Virginia to submit their original work for a chance to win cash prizes and receive an opportunity to spend two hours of in-studio time with an engineer at Red Amp Audio. In other words, it was a low-risk, high-reward opportunity.

"I knew I was going to be up against a bunch of really talented Richmond musicians, many of whom had entered other contests through Cadence Theatre," she said. "I was coming in as an outsider."

Even if that were true, it didn't stop this Spartan from standing out in a big way. Congratulations to Hailey on this prestigious win and for making a splash in the Richmond music scene!


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