Students with artistic talent and creativity flock to the State of Texas Art and Music competition to show what they’ve got.
The State of Texas Art and Music Competition is an event that lets artists and musicians from all around the state compete for a chance to be rewarded with a medal as well as opportunities for college scholarships. Band members Chris Cepeda and Christopher Velasquez made it to state and went through solo and ensemble which was held at Bowie High School. Both students experienced a long process of preparing their solos to perform.
“At the beginning of the year you get a solo and you have time to work on it and you go and perform in front of one judge and they comment and critique on it,” Velasquez said.
Being a freshman and one of only people that made it to state, Velasquez feels proud of his achievement.
“It’s an overwhelming feeling knowing that I’m one of the two people to have made it, and after hours and hours of practice I feel like it has actually paid off,” Velasquez said.
For the state art competition the two students that made it to state sophomore Quan Ha and senior Branden Harger had to take a trip to San Marcos High School and wait hours to be judged in order to find out if they would have a chance to go to state.
“Before we made it to state they lay out all the art pieces on the edge of the floor and the judges walk around to see which one catches their eye and put a dot next to it and whoever has the most dots go on to state,” Ha said.
For most students like Ha and Harger it comes a surprise that they made it into state due to the competitiveness of the event.
“It’s pretty surreal that as a sophomore I made it to state, I didn’t think I could so,” Ha said.
For these students who made it to state it is an honor and privilege to be accepted into such a huge event that not many young artists and musicians have the opportunity to participate in.
“It feels good to have made it into state because it’s really hard to make it into state and I have no idea what it is going to be like but I look forward to going to state,it feels good to have made it,” Harger said.
Both the band director Gary Faust and art teacher Vivian Medina are very proud at what the students have accomplished and hope to see them excel in state.
“I’m ecstatically proud of both of them because we haven’t had a kid advance to state from UIL in quite some time,” Faust said.
“Both Branden and Quan are hard workers and well deserving and I hope that when they get to state they get another medal,” Medina said.
The state art competition will be held on April 6, while the state music competition will start at the end of March.
