Some school activities have been either postponed or cancelled this year, but for students in choir, that is not the case as a select few choir students advanced to all-state in the Texas Music Educators Association.

Grateful to have gotten the chance to compete in all-state, Sophomore Kamarri Askew is proud to get the chance to represent the school.

“It feels a little crazy because I did not expect to make it past the first round,” Askew said. “I mean there are so many people that audition and they are all so talented, so it was a very big surprise. Nonetheless, I am very grateful and very excited that I get the chance to keep going with it and represent Liberty.”

Askew has a set routine she intends to follow, in hopes that it will eventually set her on the path of winning the competition.

“Since this is my first time doing region at a high school level, I’m playing everything ear, and I do not have a set routine that I intend to follow,” Askew said. “Although what has worked for me so far has been to learn sections of each song and then put it all together when they release our audition cuts.”

The second round began Oct. 28, giving the finalists time to prepare and learn the songs. They then receive the cuts at a later date that have been undisclosed as of right now.

There are only 1,810 students that have been selected for the competition – four of whom are Redhawks with senior Megan Guidry being one of them. She thinks this year will be unlike any other year.

“It feels awesome to advance,” Guidry said. “Everything is a little bit different this year because auditions are all online, but now that the first round is over, we know what to expect in terms of how online auditions for the Pre-Area round will work.

It’s a stressful year, according to junior Nikita Dham, but she has found ways to practice for the upcoming event to accommodate for the challenges she has faced for the upcoming competition.

“I think that this year especially with covid it was pretty stressful compared to other years,” Dham said. “I couldn’t go to any all-state calls this year so I practiced over zoom with my friends and by myself [even though] zoom has made it a little harder to practice my music.”