Seniors Logan Bowman and Alysse Grigas successfully competed for and made the prestigious All-State Choir last month, despite the rigorous process required to achieve the position.

“All-State choir is basically an elite group where you have to audition for a few rounds to make it into all state,” Bowman said. “First, there’s region choir where you have to make the top 20 chairs and make top 10 to go to area. Next, they re-audition those 10 people and the top five  people around the state compete for the six All-State spots available. All of the people who make All-state from all around Texas then work together to make great music.”

This painstaking process took hours of practice throughout the year to thoroughly prepare for.

“We got a lot of pieces we had to learn and I memorized all of them because that’s the best way to do well,” Bowman said. “I would practice and perform in front of other people and ask different people to come in and listen to me. It helps get rid of the nerves by getting used to the environment in front of people.”

All the hard work paid off as Bowman placed Fifth Chair overall in the Tenor/Bass Choir and Grigas placed First Chair overall in the Mixed Choir.

“I was just so happy,” Grigas said. “All the work I put in had really helped, and it felt really good to have made it. It showed that when I work hard, I can actually get something done.”

Both competing for and singing with All-State ended up being memorable and rewarding in itself.

“My favorite part was getting to sing with a bunch of other people that really cared about choir as much as I do,” Bowman said. “It was honestly a great experience and I get to bring back the memories to all the people here at Vista and help them get better so they can make it next year.”