Bayless High School senior Selma Jugovic recently broke school history, becoming the first Bayless student to be accepted in and perform with the Missouri All-State Choir.
“It’s a big honor,” Jugovic said. “I feel very satisfied with myself. This was one of my senior goals, to accomplish this.”
It is no easy task to make it to the Missouri All-State Choir. The process begins by auditioning for All-Suburban Honor Choir with an Italian song and sight reading. Those scores are then combined, with the top being accepted into All-Suburban. Jugovic has auditioned for and has been accepted into All-Suburban all four years of high school.
As for All-State, only juniors and seniors are eligible to audition. They are selected to audition based on their All-Suburban scores, with the top 100 students from each of Missouri’s 11 districts moving forward.
“They pick the top 20 from each voice part,” Jugovic explained. “There’s four voice parts. I auditioned as an alto, so out of everyone who auditioned as an alto, it’s the top 20 juniors and seniors who got that All-State audition.”
Those chosen to audition for All-State are required to learn and perform another Italian song, which is again scored by judges. That score and the All-Suburban score are combined, with the top four from each voice part per district selected to perform at All-State. In total, approximately 200 juniors and seniors from around Missouri performed with this year’s All-State Choir.
Bayless is a part of the St. Louis Suburban District #5 along with all four Parkway High Schools, Pattonville, Rockwood, Oakville, Mehlville, Lindbergh, Affton and Hazelwood. The fact that these schools are much bigger than Bayless – along with the fact that Jugovic was the first alternate last year, scoring fifth – makes this year’s acceptance that much sweeter.
“I cried. I was in the car, because we were supposed to be off campus. I got an email, and I saw that (it) said, ‘you have been accepted,’ and then I started crying, because I was so happy. I just didn’t know how else to express my emotions,” Jugovic said. “Ms. Simmons came my sixth grade year, so we’ve been on this journey together. All of this goes to her.”
“(I’m) incredibly happy,” Tamara Simmons, Bayless School District’s vocal music director and Jugovic’s choir teacher for the past seven years, said.. “She’s one of the hardest workers. I can’t recall a day that she has come in in seven years and not given 100%. For her to achieve this and to be the first one in Bayless history, she deserves every bit of that. She’s a phenomenal singer. She works hard. She’s a kind human. I am just so proud of her.”
The Missouri All-State Choir performed on Feb. 1 at this year’s Missouri Music Educators Association conference. As the selected high school students were from all across the state, the group of 200 practiced all together only four times before performing eight songs at the conference. Despite the quick turnaround time, the show went on without a hitch, according to Jugovic.
“We all knew our music, and as the conference went on, we gradually got better. Our sound was phenomenal,” Jugovic said. “ We know certain musicalities that other people might not focus on, (so) we were able to focus more on the musicality and how to make the piece(s) sound really interesting.”
Though while at the conference students were busy practicing, there was time for some fun, too.
“The All-State experience was something that you can’t describe. I met so many people from all over Missouri. It’s definitely an experience that I’m going to miss, that I will never forget. I’m just so lucky,” Jugovic said. “I just had a blast.”
As far as plans for next year, Jugovic plans on attending the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
“I’m still interested in doing music in college. It’s not going to be my main focus, but it’s definitely going to be something that I’m still a part of,” Jugovic said. “I have an audition coming up on March 15 and I’ve already met the director.”
Though next chapters can be exciting, they can also bring mixed emotions.
“I’ll cry,” Simmons said when asked about Jugovic graduating. “It’s hard because her first year here was my first year even back in the Midwest. I used to teach in Georgia. (Jugovic) used to come and stand right there on the middle riser with a little ponytail every day. She just worked so hard. These kids, I’ve watched them grow for seven years. I’ve watched them cry. I’ve watched them work hard. I’ve watched them achieve goals. I’ve watched them be disappointed and reflect. It’s such a journey, and to know that very soon this chapter will close is very bittersweet. More sweet than bitter.”