By LIZ BARNARD, Contributor

Five Vandegrift choir students advance to the state level competition — including the first Viper freshman All-Stater — after the Area Choir Auditions on Jan. 11 at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio.  

Area auditions are the final round in the All-State audition process which began on May 1, 2019.  Vandegrift had seven students compete at Area auditions, with four students advancing to join the Texas Music Educators Association All-State Choir. These students perform at the TMEA Convention in San Antonio, Feb. 12 – 15. 

 2019-2020 TMEA All-State students, choirs 

Sam Smoot (senior – Tenor 2) Mixed Choir

Akash Shah (freshman – Tenor 2) Tenor Bass Choir 

Jonathon Miller (senior – Bass 1) Tenor Bass Choir

Cade Conville (junior – Bass 2) Tenor Bass Choir

Noah Levine (junior – Bass 2) 1st Alternate

VHS choir students advance to region   

The Vandegrift choir had 55 students audition for the All Region Choir several months ago. Of those who auditioned, 37 Vipers made the All-Region Honor Choir. This was the most students of any other school in the region making up 25 percent of the entire All-Region Honor Choir. The choir also had 25 Viper singers advance to the next round of choir auditions and also took up 25 percent of all the audition spots.

Advanced to Region Choir

Soprano 1  

Andrea Patriarca, Riley Galligher, Roslynne Norrod 

Soprano 2

Neha Poreddy, Leigh Olsen, Lillie Doolittle, Emily Wagner 

Alto 1

Claire Sarman, Raine Collier,  Amelia Barnard, Maya Pegany, Maile Youmans, Taylor McKinney, Emily Schulz, Brianne Chase 

Alto 2

Sophia Swoyer, Maura Connors, Julia Santos, Sarah Lum 

Tenor 1

Roberto Fernandez, Matthew Pegany, Isabel Mendoza 

Tenor 2

Akash Shah, Samuel Smoot, Sahib Chadha, Armaan Azam, Luke Pronga 

Bass 1

Jonathon Miller, Riley Winterton, Nathan Deng 

Bass 2

Cade Conville, Noah Levine, Brett Yates, Dillan Burton, Mikey Gleason, Veer Singh, Ross Marburger