Senior saxophonist Eddie Chen is getting something of the Hollywood treatment on Friday as he is being flown to Los Angeles to record a segment for NPR’s student musician program, the nationally broadcast radio show From the Top.

“I think out of everything I performed on this would probably be, I guess, one of my highest honors because National Public Radio something that’s really big, obviously,” Chen said. “The show is going to be aired across the U.S. and many different local channels, so I’m really excited to be able to perform for a national audience. I think that it reflects the work I put in, and I was really proud of the video submissions that I did summit.”

This weekend’s opportunity could open many doors for Chen as he will get to learn from and work with other musicians.

“As part of the program there are other aspects than just performing on the show, we also get to do like a career development development kind of thing, and obviously you’ll be able to meet other musicians and other teachers and professors that are in Los Angeles and even across the U.S,” Chen said. “So I think that’ll really help my future career in music, in that I’ll definitely have these connections that I’m able to make not only with other saxophonists, but other classical musicians and really great musicians across the country.”

But it isn’t just NPR that has recognized Chen’s work as fellow students, like saxophonist Nick Hung, recognizes his excellence.

“Eddie has always been a hardworking individual, he constantly strives to improve something within his musical abilities, but still manages to keep amazing grades for academics,” Hung said. “As far as preparations go, he has been preparing for NPR for a while. He always finds time to practice whether in school or out of school.”

Chen’s musicality is a motivator for Hung.

“Playing with Eddie is very intimidating,” he said. “He is such a talented and amazing player and sometimes I can’t keep up. But overall it’s a great experience, he is constantly helping me out and giving me tips and advice on what I could do better. Even with all of this, he is one of my closest friends so I really do enjoy playing alongside him.”

Band director Jamie Weaver has seen Chen’s personal development since he was a middle schooler, and is impressed with the work and determination he has displayed.

“We’ve known him for seven years around here, since he was a sixth grader. His work ethic is spectacular, it’s unparalleled.” Weaver said. “I say unparallelled, there’s quite a few kids in here the work that hard, but even from early onset as a sixth grader at middle school, he was a phenomenal player, worked really hard, and just wanted to be really good at everything you did.”

Weaver sees Chen’s leadership skills in how he conducts himself in and out of the band room.

“There’s two ways to motivate,” Weaver said. “One is going to be vocal one is going to be nonvocal, in other words things that you tell people or do things and things that you just do by example where nobody you’re not saying anything but just the fact that you’re always in a practice room, the fact that you’re always working the fact that you know you don’t have to tell anybody to work they see what they follow. I think that’s the influence that he has is going to be more based on but just an example he sets people want to be like him. Then they just start asking how did you get there?”