By Deemah Pulak

Junior Dylan Kirk trudged back to the waiting room from his sight reading audition, thinking he hadn’t done very well. Advancing from Area, Kirk and three other Richardson choir students auditioned for the Texas All-State Choir this past Saturday. All four made it to All-State.

“When I found out I made it to All-State, I was extremely surprised because I thought I did awful on my sight reading, and so I kept putting myself down and kept thinking I didn’t make it,” Kirk said. “I was trying to make myself not feel as sad if I didn’t make it. But when I did, it was a big moment.”

The four choir students are seniors Griffin Camacho, Becca Davis, sophomore Bethany Jelinek and Kirk.

“I immediately started crying, and I was in shock for about two days,” Davis said. “I didn’t expect to make it this far at all.”

Students from Area went through a long process to make All-State, including singing faced back against the judges and sight reading pieces completely new to them.

“We had to sight read from a piece we had never seen in our life,” Kirk said. “Practicing every single day, even though I’ve so many other things going on, really helped because this was my priority. I really wanted it.”

The week before Valentine’s Day, the students will fly to San Antonio for four days to participate in the All-State convention.

“I’m super-excited for the All-State convention because I know it’s going to be really fun,” Jelinek. “I get to see people I’ve gone through the process with and see people from the past.”

Hundreds of All-State qualifiers from all over Texas will be in San Antonio to attend the annual Texas Music Educator’s Association conference.

“This was the one dream that I’ve wanted to achieve in high school,” Kirk said. “And I did, so it’s really great.”

In San Antonio, the qualifiers will practice with directors who will lead them in a concert scheduled for that Saturday and performed in front of Texas music teachers.

“It was a great feeling when all four of us made it, so it’s going to be really awesome being able to go down there in my senior year,” Camacho said.

Camacho has been selected for All-State three years in a row.

“I’m very honored to represent my school and be one of the few third time all-staters,” Camacho said. “It was a fantastic feeling.”

Davis has been trying to get into All-State since freshman year.

“I’m a senior and it was my last chance, so being accepted is a really big accomplishment for me,” Davis said. “All the private lessons, hours of working on sight reading, and reviewing the music over and over again trying to perfect it paid off. ”

Davis has been a part of choir since fifth grade.

“I only started choir because my friends did,” Davis said. “Out of all my friends, I’m the only one who actually stuck with it.”

Jelinek said she was worried about the audition but that her confidence helped her succeed.

“I was super-duper-excited, and it was a really great moment,” Jelinek said. “I just really enjoy singing because it allows me an outlet to express my feelings through music.”

Camacho said he was optimistic about the audition, since he had already made it to All-State two times in the past.

“I’ve taken what I’ve learned in the past years of making it to All-State and applied that this year,” Camacho said. “So this year it was a little bit easier to be able to use the process, and I was pretty confident with my abilities to make it.”

In the future, Jelinek said she plans to be in choir in college.

“It would be a dream to sing in college,” Jelinek said. “I definitely would like to stay involved with singing throughout my life. It’s an immense sense of happiness. “

To aspiring students, Camacho said working hard every day is key.

“Make sure to always work early because it’s not an easy thing,” Camacho said. “It’s not something you can learn in a week or a month – it takes from July to all the way to February. You’ve to work really hard, but it’s really worth it.”