After months of preparation and practice, 18 orchestra members from Allen High School and Lowery Freshman Center have placed in the 2015 Texas Music Educators Association Region 25 Orchestra. The students who placed include Kara Brown, Samantha Chen, Edward Cho, Samuel Choi, Christy Dixon, Miguel Gomez-Garcia, Amy Huang, Katie Jang, Hanuel Jung, Joseph Kim, Brandon Kim, Amin Lim, Icis Park, Belle Ra, Jason Tsai, Laura Xie, Richard Zhou and Sarah Frank.

“It is a nice feeling of accomplishment because it takes about five months worth of practice,” senior and viola player Huang said.

The Region 25 Orchestra concerts will be held on Dec. 12 in Allen’s PAC. Nearly 400 students from the Allen, Plano, McKinney and Sherman areas alone auditioned for the chance in October.

“It feels really good (to make it) because there are more and more kids who audition each year,” senior violinist Tsai said. “There are some really good kids out there and it has gotten more competitive over the years.”

In May, students are given two etudes to practice until August. In August, contestants then receive three orchestral excerpts to practice. During the audition in October, contestants are asked to play excerpts from the etudes and orchestral pieces in front of judges. Scores and ranks are given at the end of the day, and the final concerts are in December. The process stretches over several months.

“It takes a lot of preparation beforehand,” Tsai said. “If you want to keep up with everything then you have to set time aside to practice, which is kind of difficult.”

For some students, such as Huang, Tsai and junior Samuel Choi, this is not their first time attending region. They take the time to practice an hour or two daily.

“It takes a lot of dedication and daily practice because that is what gets you (to region),” Huang said. “I would say (it takes) concentrating on stuff that private lesson teachers give and doing the best you can.”

Making region allows the contestants to take a shot at state, and to move on to bigger things. Choi said he is honored to be at this stage.

“It feels good,” Choi said. “I am just thankful to make it and hard work pays off.”