Five MSMS students participated in Mississippi’s All-State Orchestra program this past weekend. These students, all members of the MSMS Strings Club, got to play with other instrumentalists from all over the state. This year, MSMS was represented by Alana Andrus, Aidan Dunkelberg, Lillian Fulgham, Sara Kostmayer, and Angella Osinde.

Explaining the selection process for the orchestra, Andrus said, “We were given two scales and excerpts from three songs that we’ll be performing this year. Each person has to send in a recording of all the pieces, and then you get an email back with a list of people who made it.”

The students were then given a month to rehearse the performance pieces before heading to Jackson to perform.

Dunkelberg provided more explanation of what happens at the event, saying, “You rehearse for about a day and a half before performing on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully, it sounds good; if it doesn’t, you blame everybody else and go home.”

While Andrus, Dunkelberg, and Fulgham had all previously been a part of the Mississippi All-State Orchestra, this was Kostmayer and Osinde’s first year participating. Osinde spoke highly of her experience this year, saying “Overall, after a grueling two days, I’d say the concert was well done all around.”

Dunkelberg, a four time participant and section leader for this year’s orchestra, echoed Osinde’s sentiment. “It was a great experience. Being able to be section leader was a whole lot of responsibility that I’d never dealt with before, so I learned a lot.”

While they certainly were not the first, these five students helped show that MSMS has more to offer than just math and science.