Associate choir director Joseph Foltz has accepted a position as the director of choirs at Alton High School (IL). Foltz will finish his first year as a high school teacher next week.

“It’s just a really great opportunity that was presented to me to lead a choral program at a different school, and I really, really do love so many things about Carmel, but this was an experience I wanted to take advantage of,” he said. “It was a tough decision, but it’s in the end what I decided to do.”

Junior Mitchell Siefker, who worked with Foltz in the Ambassadors show choir and in Applied Music, said he is sad to see him leave.

“I would always ask him for help on my solos and stuff, and he was just really insightful, and since he’s still so young, he can relate to all my struggles in singing,” Siefker said.

Foltz attributed his decision to a number of factors, mentioning specifically Alton’s increased emphasis on concert choir (“I’ve had a very big background in concert choir and I’m excited to dig into that a little more when I get to Alton”) and his new role as director of choirs (“There’s only one choral director at the school and I will be that one director”).

However, Foltz said he won’t forget the opportunities CHS provided him with.

“A lot of first-year music teachers get thrown into it at a school where they’re kind of on their own and they have to figure it out as they go, but I’ve been lucky to have not just two great choir teachers to work with, but other performing arts teacher that have been through it for years and years and years and were able to provide me with a lot of guidance,” he said. “As I look back, I look at the memories, and I look at the great teachers I’ve been able to work with, the amazing, amazing administrators that we have here at Carmel High School, but I think the most rewarding part has been the students, who amaze me every day.”