Quad City Times
January 11, 2008
Talented teens promote positive choices
By Mary Louise Speer
Choice is the word.
Twelve energetically talented teenagers from MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe highlighted the importance of making positive choices when it comes to issues of race, eating disorders, dating and the loss of loved ones.
Their performance took place Thursday during the 24th annual Quad-City Youth Conference attended by high school students at Black Hawk College, Moline. MWAH!, or Messages Which Are Hopeful, hails from the Chicago area and junior high age students are attending a second presentation today at Black Hawk College, Moline.
“I’ve had family members who have went through eating disorders and it’s hard,” Riese English, a senior at Moline High School, said. As a dancer, he’s seen other dancers go through the same struggles.
“There comes a time in everyone’s life where they experience loss,” MWAH! performer Holly Pitney, 14, told the audience.
Holly and her siblings, Blake, 14, and Morgan, 15, sang “Life Goes On,” a bluegrass ballad composed by their mother Tabitha Pitney. In the last two years, her family has lost an uncle who was killed in a car accident, a great aunt who died of lung cancer and an older cousin who passed away after a heart attack, she said.
Singer Joshua Welton, 18, is recording an inspirational-pop album in New York and Houston between appearances with MWAH! and preparing to become a professional musician. He performed his song “The Way We Are.”
“I have a voluminous way of thinking. I would like everyone to believe that they have a purpose. My faith is really strong so I believe that God placed a purpose in each one of us,” he said.
He added, “I’m believing that some great things are going to be coming this year.”
Teenagers came to their feet or danced sitting down for the last medley of hip-hop dance and songs from Soulja Boy, Dem Franchize Boyz, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. The mix was put together by Michael Todd Emery, 17, who co-directs and performs in MWAH!
“It’s just a lot of fun going up there and entertaining them and at the same time teaching them good lessons and morals,” he said.
His song, a country ballad “Wait Awhile,” cautions teenagers to be careful about rushing into relationships.
Performer Alex Oechsel, 12, and two of her siblings know all about the occasional short nights of sleep. Their mother accompanies them on trips.
“This is my first year. I started in September. My favorite part is to go up there and do my speech about what love is all about,” Alex said. “It’s fun to teach them a lesson so they can learn more about life.”
Monica Hill, a sophomore at Moline High School, would like having an opportunity to sing and perform in MWAH! “It looks fun,” she said. Probably the most important message in the performance was “helping other people learn about what’s really going on in their life,” she said.
Joshua Welton from Chicago performs as a member of the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe during
the troupe's keynote presentation for the Quad Cities Youth Conference at Black Hawk College in
Moline. The 18-year-old captivated hundreds of high school and middle school students with the song
'The Way We Are' from his soon-to-be- released solo inspirational / pop album.
Photo: Kevin E. Schmidt of the Quad City Times
The MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe focused on several students attending the Quad Cities Youth Conference on January 10, 2008,
in their special arrangement of the Enrigue Iglesias song 'Hero.' Troupe vocalists are
(left to right) Erin Oechsel, Holly Pitney, and Christian Rodriguez. MWAH! band members in back
are (left to right) Blake Pitney, Michael Todd Emery, and Morgan 'Moe' Pitney. The two-day event
involving some 1,800 junior high, middle school, and high school students took place on the
campus of Black Hawk College in Moline.
Photo: Nick Loomis / The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus