High school band and choir students from across Iowa have been practicing in preparation for this weekend’s Iowa High School Music Association All-State Festival.

Greene County High School will have four representatives performing for choir, including Rasmus Villebro, Gavin VanderLinden, Olivia Hoyt, and Ava Schilling. Villebro is a senior and he talks about his initial reaction when he qualified for all-state for the first time this year.

“It was kind of like when a sports fan found out that their team went to the playoffs, I was just celebrating, like it was awesome, honestly. Because there was like there was a bunch of stress before that and then when I saw my name on that list (of qualifiers) the flood of relief was incredible. It felt so good to see my name on that list.”

Junior Olivia Hoyt describes whether or not she felt more pressure auditioning for all-state this  year after previously making it.

“I definitely think there was more pressure this year. It was my third time auditioning because I auditioned online my freshmen year. And so making it in for a second time is really a big accomplishment, especially since it was so much harder. And I’m just really excited. You know, I’ll get to have two medals at the performance.”

The festival takes place Thursday through Saturday at Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University in Ames. The concert will be on Saturday night at 7:30pm.