Mississippi Gulf Coast students crowned national champions in Musicology

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WXXV)- A group of students at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School in Long Beach recently came home national champions in a highly unique subject.

For Charlie Clark, Conrad Crittenden, Andrew Malini, and Jesse Pidgeon, the love of music is a competitive passion.

In late June, the four soon to be sixth graders at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School in Long Beach turned that passion for music into a national championship run in the National Beta Club’s Musicology competition in Nashville late last month.

What’s musicology? The boys and one of their co-sponsors talked to WXXV about that and the prep work that goes into preparing for a competition like this.

The road to Nashville wasn’t an easy one. First, the team had to make a strong showing in the Mississippi state competition. They placed second there, then later learned they would be among 16 teams out of 250 who qualified nationwide for the national competition.

After a tough semifinal round, the team found it’s swagger and cruised to a 200-0 win to take home the national championship and bragging rights for the next year.

Now that they’re back home on the Coast, the boys are reflecting on what it means to be a national champion in a unique field of study.