In the final round of the TMEA All-State auditions, more than 50 students were brought to Waco to audition and potentially make it into the state choir. Senior Varsha Nathan is the only student from McNeil to succeed and snag a spot on the roster.

“(Before the audition) I’d do breathing exercises, drink tons of water, get as much sleep as possible, rest my voice when I could, and just treat my body the best I could,” Nathan said.

Students must start off with round one, where they take the top 15 singers in each zone. The 15 qualifiers pass to the next level of auditions, where they choose the top 5 and so forth.

“We are thrilled with our students. They worked hard and all of our students ranked well, even if they did not score high enough to advance,” Head Choir Director, Wendi Burwinkel said. “Approximately 64,000 students audition across the state to be in one of the All-State groups for band, choir, and orchestra.That means our All-Stater, Varsha Nathan, beat out roughly 30,000 other students for a spot in one of the choirs. That is absolutely incredible.”

The finalists are separated into three choirs once they’ve made it to state: mixed Choir, (Women’s) Treble Choir, and the(Men’s) Tenor-Bass Choir. There is roughly 100 people in the Men’s and Women’s choir. and a little over 200 in the Mixed Choir.

“I was really unsure of who I was competing against and after my audition, I was so certain I had not made it,” Nathan said. “That made it all the more gratifying and surprising, though.”