Two AHS Choir students have been selected to participate in the Texas Music Educator’s Association (TMEA) All-State choir. The four All-State choirs will perform at the TMEA convention in San Antonio on Feb. 13.

Junior Logan Dooley, Bass I, and senior Alexa Mooring, Soprano I, traveled to Area auditions on Jan. 9 at Texas A&M Commerce. They received the results later that day.

“I was so relieved,” Mooring said. “I had been sick the week before and there was so much stress, and when you hear your name called it’s like the weight is taken off your shoulders.”

More than 16,000 students around the state audition for the opportunity to perform in one of the 15 musical ensembles including band, choir and orchestra. The All-State choirs include mixed, men’s, women’s and small school. All choir students were required to learn up to 11 pieces of music prior to the Area audition.

“I went to a summer camp at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, so I’ve been preparing since summer,” Dooley said. “I practiced about two hours every day, just singing through it.”

The TMEA convention and clinic is considered by directors across the country as a primary source of musical knowledge, and is attended by over 26,000 people annually.

“It’s a really inspiring atmosphere,” Mooring said. “We were all so dedicated and we wanted it so much.”

Mooring is also involved in theater and Encore, while Dooley plays trumpet in the band and has a lead role in the school musical, “Fame.” Dooley, who moved from Athens, Texas, this year, made the small school All-State choir as a sophomore.

“All-State is the greatest choir experience you can have in high school, because it’s the best singers in the state and the best directors in the country,” Dooley said. “Everybody is in such a great mood because they’re appreciating the fact that they worked for so long for it.”