After more than 20 hours of organized practices and a high-pressure audition, three Suffolk Public Schools students have become part of the Third Annual Southeastern Virginia Junior District Four Orchestra.

Sami Gizara, violinist from Forest Glen Middle School and Tia Faircloth, cellist from King’s Fork Middle School were chosen to perform in the eighth-grade orchestra, and Joshua Bush, cellist from King’s Fork Middle School was chosen to perform in the seventh-grade orchestra.

“Their dedication finally paid off for them, and it was a great honor for them to represent their city,” said Sara Jordan, orchestra teacher at King’s Fork Middle School.

The students auditioned for the orchestra in October at Joliff Middle School. They competed against students from Portsmouth, Chesapeake and other Suffolk schools.

It was a blind audition, which means that the students competed behind a screen for a panel of judges. They performed a rehearsed piece and a second piece they had never seen before.

They were evaluated in terms of tone, scales, and their ability to sight-read, said Karey Sitzler, orchestra teacher at Forest Glen Middle School and Lakeland High School.

Students were assigned a number from one to 100 that denoted their aptitude in performing the two pieces.

The top 80 students for each grade level were selected to perform as part of the orchestra on Jan. 14 and 15 at Greenbrier Middle School.

Jordan said this was the first time two students from King’s Fork Middle School have been chosen to perform in the district orchestra. Both teachers agreed that this is significant, because the Suffolk students successfully competed with schools in District Four that begin orchestra training earlier than Suffolk students do.

“Both Sara and I are very proud of the kids because they worked extra hard and went through auditions,” Sitzler said. “We are really proud of them for that.”