The Tracy Honors concert was held January 21 and featured some of our students with beautiful talents. Of those performing, three were of our own: junior Kacey Mae Moore in Honors Choir, sophomore Christian Valle in Honors Concert Band and sophomore Jehanna Roldan in Honors Orchestra. Mr. Jonathan Raman, West High’s music teacher, expected each of the students who were participating “to be the best, of the West.” With a buzz in the air, Valle said, “I’m very excited for the performance. I live to perform and absolutely love the stage. Playing great music and performing is the reason why I signed up and have been playing for the past four years.”

As the concert crept closer, Roldan was asked how she contributed to the Honors program and said, “Practicing to get ready for the concert and telling family members to come and watch to raise money for the program.”

Honor Concert Band guest conductor, Dr. Robert Halseth, spoke about the how students’ performances were going. He said, “They are doing really well. I had a hard time picking out the literature… I choose music that was pretty tough for some seventh and eighth graders, but also difficult for some ninth and tenth graders.” Halseth has been teaching music for 52 years for all grades and even professionals. Halseth was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame of the California Music Educators at the 2016 statewide music conference. When asked about the contributing factors to joining the Honors program Halseth said, “I think that they are going to get to know each other and will help build up each school and build a better program.” Halseth would like to see more of the junior high and high school kids communicate with each other to talk about what each music program has to offer. Halseth advises all students who join the Honors to, “Come prepared and know your part!”

By the end of the concert, Mae Moore felt that, “Everyone did a wonderful job and did their best… I want all people to know that everyone fails at some point and there are choices. You either give up or get up and try again.”