Katherine Husak and Joseph Withrow were selected to the IBA Honor Band and will be playing with the band on Thursday, May 9. Chronicle Photo/Allison Graham

Two South Tama County eighth grade students have been selected to the prestigious All Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band. Katherine Husak and Joseph Withrow will be representing the Trojans at the honor band at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Convention on Thursday, May 9 in downtown Des Moines.

Husak is the daughter of Jerome and Joanne Husak and she plays clarinet. Withrow is the son of Dawn Withrow and David Ohmen and plays French horn.

Only 132 8th grade students across the state of Iowa are selected to the honor band. It has been over 15 years since South Tama has had an 8th grader selected to the band.

“I’m feeling really pumped up,” said Withrow.

“I’m very excited. I worked very hard and finally it’s paying off,” said Husak.

To prepare for such an event Husak and Withrow practice every single day outside of class at least 30 minutes.

The application process for the Iowa Bandmasters Association Honor band began at the Northeast Iowa Bandmasters Association (NEIBA) honor band. Husak and Withrow were both selected to play in the NEIBA Honor Band and while there they had the opportunity to audition for the IBA Honor Band.

According to Husak about 30 other clarinets auditioned. Once the initial audition occurred they received a call back and four out of the 30 clarinets that auditioned were accepted into the IBA Honor Band.

Withrow auditioned with a E-Tude piece from the Secondary book of French Horn E-Tudes.

Husak and Withrow have been playing since they were in fifth grade. On top of getting accepted to the IBA Honor Band both Husak and Withrow will be playing first part which is an additional honor for the two students.

On May 9 the members of the honor band will rehearse during the morning under world renown composer and conductor, Carol Brittin Chambers. Then they will put on a concert at 1 p.m.

“It feels amazing (to be able to represent South Tama). Mr. Carnahan has been telling us it’s been 15 years since someone at South Tama has gotten in so it feels crazy to be able to do this,” said Husak.

Husak and Withrow are both very much looking forward to IBA Honor Band but also looking ahead to their next school year where they will be freshmen at STC High School.

“To say I’m extremely proud is an understatement,” said band director Mike Carnahan, “These two kids and there was a third person who auditioned, Mariah Spinler, they worked their tails off for this. It is my hope that they serve as an inspiration to other band members obviously younger than them that maybe they could follow in their footsteps and continue this trend of having someone accepted in this band but also some of the older members that are going to feel inspired to work hard and improve in all areas.”