HomeNEWSLiving Next to Success with the Girls Next Door

Living Next to Success with the Girls Next Door

By ASHLEY SWEET
Staff Writer

The Girls Next Door A Cappella Group of Saint Rose has received national recognition as of March through their nomination for the Contemporary A Capella Recording Awards (CARA) and on two leaderboards for the AcaRanks.
Both the CARA nominees and awardees of the AcaRanks are judged by a group of A capella professionals. Those who are singers, performers, composers, and leaders within the A cappella community themselves, come together to decide on the prestigious recognitions.
Earlier in December the Girls Next Door (GND) submitted their impressive line of a cappella work to the CARA and waited patiently until March 23 when they received word that they were nominated for the categories Best Female Collegiate Album, Best Female Collegiate Song, and Best Female Collegiate Solo, based off their 2013 album, “Girl’s Next Door.”
“It’s incredible to see how far the group has come, so to continue on and keep getting recognized is just so crazy and a real honor, “ said Katherine Butera, six-year member of GND. “Just to be ranked and considered is amazing, not anything I could have guessed.”
The CARA nominations are based on the CD submitted, which contains a compilation of the group’s works. In this case it was indeed the GND’s recorded album from the spring of 2013. The judges then review the submissions and give awards in the various categories, to be announced in Boston, Massachusetts on April 12 at the BOSton Sings A Cappella Festival.
Members of GND were honored again when in late March they received notice that they had been ranked by AcaRanks, an annual US competition of a cappella groups, on both a Top 100 and a top Northeast leaderboard. GND ranked 11 out of 54 in the top Northeast A cappella groups and 70 out of 100 on the national, Top 10, leaderboard.
“I never even win at bingo and then I heard about this,” said Lindsay Moran, a first-year GND member. Both Moran and Butera said how proud they were of the girls individually and all together to be honored on such a level.
“This is more than just singing for fun at this point, we are being seen by others as successful,” Butera said.
AcaRanks was important to the girls for many reasons and foremost because it is an accumulation of all their previous hard work. The rankings are based on the group’s album reviews, CARA nominations, Best of Collegiate A Cappella and their wins in the International Championship for Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), of which they have proven themselves two years in a row. The girls made it through Quarter Finals to the Semi Finals for the ICCA 2012 and 2013 competition, stealing the stage on a worldwide level.
Both the AcaRanks titles and CARA nominations carry an exceptional amount of merit and are not taken lightly by any of the girls in the group. All express how honored they feel to have come this far and be commended by the A cappella community.
“One of the biggest honors by far,” said Colleen Weresnick, two-year member of GND. “Not just the awards but because of these girls, they make it such an honor after all the hard work we have put in together.”
Even though the first-year members, or “Babies” as the group calls them, are not on the album that has been recognized, they are still part of the success. For Butera, after six years, she will be saying good bye to the group this spring, even though the girls have a “Once a member, always a family” motto. Butrea explains that she could not have hoped to end on a happier note, no pun intended. She has been musical director with Machenzie Cohen, a three-year member, and says that the growth in the girls and group overall is astounding.
“They may not be on the album, but they work hard,” said Butera, in regards to leaving the group. “I know that they are more than capable and I am leaving the group in good hands.”
GND was first recognized as a group by the Saint Rose Student Association 11 years ago in 2002, and has grown tremendously ever since. GND’s auditions in September of 2013 brought on seven “Babies” who are both amazed and intrigued at the success of the group.
“One of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” said Moran. “It makes me excited and want to work hard in the future.”
The girls audition and receive callbacks for the a cappella group and all the girls explain that they could not have picked a more diverse group of people to call their family.
“Everyone is different and you have so many ideas and personalities coming together, and somehow it works,” said Weresnick.
The diversity factor seems to be in the girls’ favor as they await the results of the BOSton Sings A Cappella Festival.
While the girls will not be traveling to Boston to attend the event, they said that a gathering of some sort will be orchestrated to prepare for the news. After stealing the international stage in years prior, GND members will be gathering around the computer on April 12 to refresh webpages and give thanks for their well-earned distinctions.
“As if they weren’t already, this has made all the rehearsals and auditions and freak-outs worth it,” said Butera.

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