By Patricia Barkley
The Haysville Times
One Haysville middle school student has recently received the honor of joining the South Central Kansas Music Educators State Honor Band. Amanda Jones, 13 years old, is an 8th grader at the Haysville Middle School and has been playing the clarinet since the 5th grade, when she was attending Rex Elementary. She started by playing her older sister’s clarinet. She had tried the piano but decided that it wasn’t the right instrument for her.
In order to join the State Honor Band, Jones first had to record several songs at school and send the recording to the band committee. She was the only student chosen from Haysville to participate in the Honor Band concert.
The songs played by the band will be chosen for them, but Jones’ favorite song to play is “Soul Bossanova,” from the “Austin Powers” movie. When she’s not playing music, she’s playing tennis, which she practices at with her mother. In fact, she was one of the Middle School’s Students of the Month this year. Jones also has a 4.0 GPA, and her favorite subject is math.
This is not Jones’ first time in the spotlight. For the last two years, she has played her clarinet in a Fine Arts program through her church, in which the group with the highest score goes on to the national competition in Indianapolis.
Jones says she is very excited about playing for the Honor Band, though. Next month, she will travel to Lawrence, KS, with her parents, to perform in a concert with the rest of the students from around the state who made it into the band. Congratulations, Amanda!