Lamar High School Students Earn All-State Honors

Vanessa Marta (clarinet) and Cesar Chavez (trumpet) performed with the Colorado All-State Concert Band at the University of Northern Colorado on Saturday, March 30. The All-State Band is comprised of 110 students from schools across the state. Over 900 students auditioned for the 2019 band, which is considered one of the highest honors for high school musicians in Colorado. Students must go through an audition process that begins in December and is not completed until two days before the performance in March.

This was the second year for Vanessa, a clarinet player, to be selected for the band. Vanessa placed third in rankings of clarinet players from across Colorado. Cesar, a trumpet player, was performing with the band for the first time. Cesar has played trumpet for less than two years. He switched from alto saxophone because the LHS band needed more trumpets.

“You should have seen the judge’s eyes when I told him I had only been playing two years”, Cesar said after the final audition.

All-State students can expect to receive multiple scholarship offers from colleges. Like many All-State musicians, Vanessa, who is in 11^th grade, plans to major in music and to become a band director. Cesar, also a Junior, is still deciding what he will do after high school but is certain that music will continue to be an important part of his life.

Congratulations to these excellent musicians!