Burroughs High School Choir Makes California History

John Burroughs High School’s Vocal Music Association just made California history, and they did it twice in the same weekend.

The JBHS VMA sent two of its advanced show choirs, Powerhouse and Sound Sensations, to the Wheaton Warrenville South High School Choral Classic in Illinois earlier this spring. Both groups came home with Grand Champion titles. No California school had ever pulled off multiple Grand Champion wins at this competition before. Burroughs now owns that first.

The Wheaton Warrenville South Choral Classic draws top high school show choirs from across the country and carries serious weight on the national circuit. It’s not a regional stepping stone. It’s a destination. Winning one Grand Champion at an event like this is a program-defining result. Winning two in the same year is the kind of thing that gets talked about for a long time.

Sound Sensations took Grand Champion honors along with Best Vocals and Best Visuals. Powerhouse matched that haul and added a fourth award: Outstanding Soloist, which went to student Evan Baker.

The competition victories didn’t stop in Illinois.

Around the same time, the program’s mixed a cappella group, Neo Chromatics, traveled to Redwood City to compete in the 2026 International Championship of High School A Cappella semifinals. The group finished second overall and won Best Choreography, an award credited to student choreographers Noel Mason and Alessi Umali. The result places Neo Chromatics among the top 20 a cappella groups in the country.

Three groups. Three competitions. Multiple championship-level finishes.

The JBHS VMA has operated as one of the stronger public school music programs in the country since its founding in 1979, but the program’s current national profile took shape after Brendan Jennings took over as director in 2006. Jennings is a Burroughs choir alum himself, which gives the whole thing a satisfying full-circle quality. He has built a program that now competes at the highest levels and wins.

What stands out beyond the trophies is the consistency. Competition judges and event organizers specifically recognized the JBHS students for their professionalism, character, and sportsmanship throughout both competitions. That kind of recognition doesn’t come from one good performance. It comes from a program culture that emphasizes how you carry yourself, not just how you sing.

For Burbank residents who want to see what all this looks like in person, the JBHS VMA Spring Show is set for Thursday, May 21, at the JBHS auditorium. Every performing group in the program will take the stage that night: Powerhouse, Sound Sensations, Sound Waves, Decibelles, Men@Work, Neo Chromatics, and Muses. That includes full performances by all three groups that just returned from competition.

This is the only remaining chance this school year to see the award-winning sets that competed on a national stage. Based on how these shows typically go, that audience will fill up before the night arrives.

General admission tickets are available now at jbhsvma.com or at the door, though the VMA notes that advance purchase is strongly recommended. Their shows sell out regularly, and this spring’s program has more buzz behind it than usual.

Burbank’s entertainment industry connection runs deep at every level, including inside its public schools. The JBHS VMA has spent decades training students in vocal technique, dance, music theory, and stagecraft at a level that clearly translates when those students stand on competitive stages across the country. The results from this spring make that plain.

Two Grand Champions. A top-20 national a cappella ranking. First-ever dual title finish for any California school at a nationally recognized competition.

That’s a spring worth showing up for.