Several students from the choir program, select band students, the jazz ensemble and the horn choir attended a conference hosted by the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA) on Feb. 23 to Feb. 25 in Wichita.

Eleven students total made an All-State ensemble. No orchestra students were present at KMEA.

Band students that made the All-State band include Jeremy Kuehnen, Jenna Stokes, sophomores; Flynn Hemenway, senior, Noelle Schlenk, and Andrew Oberholtzer, juniors.

The band was not the only group to have musicians attend the event. Choir students that attended were Jonathan Swanson and Jordan DeLeon; sophomores, Chase Simmons and Brittany Taylor, juniors; Kathryn Sommers and Kaeli Whitener; seniors.

Students had to audition to be in the All-State ensembles before judges at Salina, Kan., in January.

All students that attended a school district in Kansas were eligible to try out for an All-State group, but not everybody gets in.

“There were 130 clarinet players; only 48 made it,” Chad Coughlin, band director, said. Coughlin was involved in judging the clarinet players for the All-State band.

“My favorite part was meeting all the other people who cared about music just as much as me,” Kuehnen said about his experience at Wichita during the event. He also said that the main reason he wanted to go was “to see if he can make it.”