Between the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school year, the growth for the fine arts has increased drastically. People are becoming more involved and interested in being a part of something bigger that competes at a high level almost yearly. Just one example of this is the New Ulm High School Knowledge Bowl team. This team has made the state competition several years and has recently been very competitive.

Last year, the team took third place in the tournament, which, at the time, was the highest place the high school had received in the program’s history. However, this year, the program was a lot more successful. “I thought we would be lucky to just make it to the state competition at the beginning of the year,” said coach Rob Bute, “but we outdid our preseason expectations.” And “outdid” may have been an understatement. The team sent not only one team to the state tournament but two teams for the third time in school history. However, unlike other years, these two teams performed outstandingly well. They finished first and second in the state competition, which had never been done before in tournament history.

However, Knowledge Bowl isn’t the only fine arts program that has been increasing in popularity. New Ulm Choir and Band have seen increased participation and are becoming much more prevalent in sporting events. The band has played in many sporting competitions, supporting the Eagles with banging drums and chiming symbols.

These increases in fine arts not only mean that the high school is moving in a direction a little away from sports and towards some fine arts, but it also means that the high school is becoming a lot more inclusive of every subject so that each student can participate in what they want to participate and not feel outside judgment from it.