The more you try, the more you succeed.

After six years of trying, White Station senior Kate Jenkins was selected for the All West Tennessee Choir.

All West is a competitive congregation of musicians from public high schools all over West Tennessee. The students will meet with a guest conductor and rehearse all day from November 21 to November 22. Their performance follows at Bellevue Baptist Church on November 23.

“I’ve always been really close [to getting in], like in the top thirteen or alternate. I feel like it was just luck this time. I went in with the mindset that if it happens, it happens,” Jenkins said.

Senior Jackson Springer is also a first-time All West singer. “I was so excited when I made it. I was jumping up and down,” Springer said.

All West was never a major goal for Springer until this year. “People have been trying out since middle school, but I put it off every year. I was always too scared to really try. This year I was really excited to do it and make it,” Springer said.

To prepare for their auditions, choir students are given a CD with all of the audition songs. In addition, Springer enlisted help from his friend, sophomore Constance Poplos.

“I had Constance give me tips. I’d sing auditions for her. She’d tell me where to breathe. Also, in class I paid attention more and focused more. And I kept the CD in my car and sang it everywhere I went.”

In total, forty-five White Station students made All West Choir this year, including senior Nykkoa Morris, who was named first chair.

White Station’s choir teacher, Mr. Eady, requires all of his students to audition. Because he used to teach at White Station Middle School, many of this year’s senior choir students have worked with Mr. Eady since the sixth grade.

“I joined in sixth grade because I loved singing Disney songs and Dixie Chicks. Eady really cares about what he’s doing and makes you sound good, so I’ve kept up with it,” Jenkins said.

This year, the guest conductor will be one of Mr. Eady’s graduate professors. “I’m very excited because it’s his mentor,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins enjoys choir because it’s “a unifying force,” she said, “In choir, everyone comes together to make one sound, and if you do it right, it sounds beautiful.”