Vocal lessons, lots of practice and – surprisingly – multivitamins were just a few things choir students went through to achieve the perfect pitch in preparation for auditioning for All-State Choir.

Among 24 of Maverick students competing at the All-State second round process, 12 of them moved on to the final round that will occur in January, that being around one-third of all seats in total.

Senior Emily De La Portilla prepared herself for the All-State competition resulting in her victory. Now she looks forward to the final round where she will learn a new song for the audition.

“I practiced one to two hours a day and took vocal lessons,” De La Portilla said. “For the next leveI I will prepare by refining songs and learning a new one. The most challenging part of this process was auditioning and actually being there.”

Freshman Lucas Salas also got this far dedicating a lot of his time to practice, mainly listening to recordings on the choir website.

“Practice was a challenge for me,” Salas said. “Most of the time I didn’t feel like doing it, but now I will try to rehearse without recordings so I can build up my skills.”