National Pioneer

Drew Johnson, Reporter

Following her success at All State Honors Orchestra, senior Jessica Huber went even further by playing for The National Association for Music Education Symphony Orchestra.

Huber played violin as a young child until she decided to switch to the viola freshman year. Huber’s musical talents have shown through when she was accepted into All state Honors Orchestra last fall. However, Huber also qualified to audition for nationals.

“Most of the kids there were pursuing degrees in music performance and it was really fun to be around a lot of motivated musicians and especially meeting new people from all over the U.S.” Huber said.

They only take 120 individuals out of everyone who auditioned. This symphony orchestra is built off of the top musical performance high school students in the United States.

Huber was then sent to Grapevine, Texas at the Gaylord Texan Resort. They had four days to prepare and perfect their music before performing it. Aside from practicing, the students also got to go sight seeing, shopping, and attending musical clinics put on by top conductors and college professors in the United States.

Getting to meet passionate students from different areas was important to Huber. She made friends and new memories as well.

“My favorite memory was performing the piece we worked on while we were there and it was cool because everyone could play it perfectly,” Huber said.

This was the last competition she could be apart of in high school. Huber plans to keep music in her life for fun and will continue to hold on to her talent.

“I plan to keep music in my life more as a hobby after high school and maybe teach private lessons. I’m glad I have this skill,” Huber said.