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Valley students to compete at national Mariachi Extravaganza competition

Valley students to compete at national Mariachi Extravaganza competition
2 years 3 months 4 days ago Tuesday, November 15 2022 Nov 15, 2022 November 15, 2022 10:48 PM November 15, 2022 in News - Local
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Students from 17 schools across the Valley will be competing at this year's Mariachi Extravaganza in San Antonio.

To be a part of the competition, students had to submit recorded auditions on YouTube.

From there, a panel of judges narrowed down the finalists.

The Roma Independent School district has students from four campuses competing this year.

Roma High School senior Viviana Garcia says she's very excited to represent the Valley.

“We want to portray ourselves at our very best,” Garcia said. “We want to show the music, the art and everything."

Roma ISD’s mariachi program won 14 titles from the extravaganza competition.

This year's competition is more meaningful for Roma High School senior Alec Vazquez. It’ll be the last time he'll go to competition with his younger brother, Ryan.

Ryan said his brother played a major role in his decision to become a part of the mariachi program..

“Every time I saw him play it just filled me with some sort of passion just to do the same be just like him, be better than him even," Ryan said. 

Allyson Contador also said family played a role in her decision to get into the mariachi program. The 11-year-old at Barrientes Middle School is one of four middle school soloists from the Valley who will be at the competition.

She says she's ready to shine bright.

“The stage is yours, you get to do whatever you want on it,” Contador said. “As long as you sing and perform, it just feels so nice to be on stage singing for all those people."

The stakes are also high for La Joya High School senior Yuliana Flores.

Last year’s grand champion vocal winner was also from La Joya High School, and Flores said she's been practicing every day to bring the title home again.

“As long as I try my best and I pour my heart into the song, I know I'll accomplish whatever I want," Flores said.

Sharyland High School senior Luis Gutierrez says he was happy to find out his mariachi group was going back to the competition, but he’s not underestimating the competition.

"There's a lot of good groups competing with us this year, so we're hoping that we can leave a good mark and see if we can place very high,” Gutierrez said. 

All students say they want to honor their Mexican roots by showcasing the beauty of mariachi.

They head to San Antonio on Wednesday to compete.

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