The program at Grosse Pointe South is supported by an active parent booster organization and other community organizations who volunteer time and offer financial support to continue the excellence. The funds raised by the G.P. South Choir Boosters are used to provide student scholarships and enable the program to engage the services of dance, theater and vocal music clinicians of national prominence and reputation to work with the students.

The Grosse Pointe South High School Vocal Music Program, under the direction of Mrs. Ellen Bowen, has earned a national reputation for excellence in the performing arts education. This exciting and innovative music program combines classical music, jazz, show choir, dance and acting into a diverse and challenging educational experience for the over 100 students who participate in the vocal music program at Grosse Pointe South High School.

The choirs of Grosse Pointe South have won three national show choir competitions and traditionally receive 1st Division "superior" ratings at regional and state vocal music solo and ensemble competitions. In the past two years, Grosse Pointe South has had two of its vocal music students qualify as State of Michigan solo finalists.

Whether appearing in a show choir competition or participating in State choral festivals, the students of Grosse Pointe South have a commitment to musicality. Many of the students are enrolled in private voice and dance lessons. Whether as soloists or in ensembles, these students can perform classical music, jazz medleys and musical theater standards with precision and style.

The benefits of this program to the students, the Grosse Pointe public schools and the community are well recognized and documented. The most important beneficiaries of this strong performing arts program are the diverse students of Grosse Pointe South. Participants have, first and foremost, received excellent training in vocal music and performing arts. Furthermore, the opportunity for students to engage in specific performances, both individually and as a group, teach them a number of life-long disciplines. They have learned about and understand the need for commitment and striving for excellence if they are to achieve success. Finally, they have learned to accept challenge and seize opportunity while being ever mindful of prioritizing their extracurricular activities with their schoolwork.

The program offers four separate student choirs: Pointe Singers, an auditioned ensemble of junior and senior students; South Singers, an auditioned ensemble of sophomore and junior students; Tower Belles, an advanced women's group and Pointe Chorus, a freshman introductory ensemble.

The program at Grosse Pointe South is proudly one of inclusion and diversity. Mrs. Bowen has taken students of all sizes and shapes and guided them into becoming talented performers. In addition, she has always found a way to include students with special disabilities and other special needs. What is paramount to the parents of these students are the rewards that come far away from the footlights of the stage. The skills that these children acquire in this program are carried with them well beyond high school. The poise, confidence, organizational and communication skills they learn and develop will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

In the spring of each year, Grosse Pointers eagerly await the Grosse Pointe South all school musical. The musicals include many students and are often compared in quality and showmanship, to college and even professional productions. South engages the best high school acting coaches, choreographers and musicians to provide the students a comprehensive and excellent educational experience in musical theater. Students also work on costumes, sets and the other technical aspects of the production, under the supervision of theater production artists and technicians.

For many years, the Pointe Singers performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in its Holiday POPS concert. Grosse Pointe South is one of the only high school groups in recent memory that has worked in such a close and exclusive performance relationship with the DSO. DSO administrators and concert promoters were thrilled to work with such a talented group of young, energetic singers and dancers. Metropolitan Detroit audiences were surprised and amazed that the young performers gracing the stage of Orchestra Hall were high school students. The students are able to sing and dance like true professionals and have commanded the respect of the orchestra's members, professional staff and visiting artists.

The vocal music program at Grosse Pointe South High School is only incidentally about the awards and accolades for high quality performances. The focus of the program is on the positive learning experiences and enrichment these students derive from the program. The program also gives the community an outstanding and proactive opportunity to support and participate in this outstanding educational process. The vocal music program at South has provided an incredibly enriching program to many hundreds of students. This program is about the look on the face of a young man or woman who has achieved something, on or off the stage, which they did not believe they were capable of achieving. Many of these young people have found, in this vocal music program, not only a creative outlet for their growing and developing talent, but a place where their confidence and self-esteem are constantly nurtured.

Many graduates of this vocal music program have gone on to study voice, drama, theater production, arts administration and musical theater at some of the nations' finest universities, colleges and conservatories including the University of Michigan, Indiana University, University of Cincinnati- College Conservatory of Music, Webster University, Butler University, Vanderbilt University, The College of Charleston, Western Michigan University and Wellesley College.