Four Russellville students – Kylee Plott, Destiny Cooper, Patrick Crummie and Emily Crummie – auditioned and were selected for the All-State Choir, to be held the first weekend in March.

Thousands of students in throughout Alabama try out each year to be included among the best vocal talents in the state as part of the All-State Choir. Only the elite singers make it through auditions. Among them this year are three students from Russellville High School and one from Russellville Middle School.

This is seventh-grader Kylee Plott’s first year in the All-State Choir Festival.

“I like to sing because you can express yourself through music,” Plott said. “I was scared at first when I went in (to audition) but I knew God was with me through the whole audition.”

Singing is a passion for each of the four students who were selected for the choir – Plott, as well as sophomore Destiny Cooper, freshman Patrick Crummie and senior Emily Crummie.

“It makes me happy. I like listening to different notes and ways other people sing, and I like to learn about it … You can show your individuality,” said Cooper, who will participate in All-State Choir for her third year. Patrick will participate for his third year, as well; his sister Emily has been selected for the choir every year since seventh grade.

The All-State Choir Festival is a three-day event that culminates in a professionally-record concert, set for the first weekend in March at Samford University in Birmingham.

“It’s a really big honor,” Patrick said. “It makes you feel really good.”

“You get to meet new people who enjoy singing as much as you do,” Cooper added. Her first year, “We all bonded very well. I made a lot of new friends, and they go every year.”

Even for the All-State veterans, there is no guarantee of being selected for the choir every year. Patrick and Cooper both had their doubts about their auditions this year.

“The high school music is a lot harder than the middle school, so that was my biggest worry. I messed up a little during the audition process,” Patrick said. “I have to thank my sister. She said, ‘I think you’re going to make it,’ – that gave me hope.”

Cooper was sick the day of auditions and didn’t have as much help with rehearsing prior to auditions, so she said she was also worried she wouldn’t be selected. “But I prayed about it a lot,” she added.

Faith was a common theme for these students to carry them through the audition process.

“God gave me peace through the entire ordeal,” Patrick said.

“I wouldn’t have made it through without God,” Plott agreed.

“My family helped me a lot, and my church prayed for me a bunch, and they gave me support,” Cooper added.

Plott is the daughter of Hugh and Sheryl Plott; Patrick and Emily are the children of George and Dana Crummie; and Cooper is the daughter of Alicia Cooper.