Hays High School’s Rebel Vocal Music Department members had an outstanding outing at their 2016 UIL Solo and Ensemble contest, held recently at Austin’s McCallum High School. There were 47 Charles Flores-directed Rebs entered in the audition competition. 34 of those earned First Division (Superior) ratings on their solos. 21 students qualified with a top rating of “1” and will advance to the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Competition to be held in May at University of Texas-Austin. Students qualifying to advance to State included Alayna Bedwell, Taylor Burrell, Emma Cole, Taylor Cooper, Sean Corbett, Allison Garcia, Jasmyne Garcia, Makaela Gotchey, Hailey Heatherington, Hermalinda Hurtado, Eboni Jones, Valisa Kinder, Veronica Mendez, Peiyan Li, Aracely Rojas, Juliana Smith, Hailey Williams, Derrick Dawson, Joel Ferguson, Wesley Ramirez and Michael Samaro. Additional students scoring “1” included Alyssa Blazi, Lydia Emery, Katrina Fitch, Taryn Grannis, Summer Lopez, Sofia Martinez-Gonzalez, Gabriella Reyna, Arianna Thomas, Annleise Vigil, Jacob Hebert, Graydon Hornsby, Seth Lyon, and Casper Smith. (photo by Jim Cullen)