Every year, over a thousand students audition to join the North Carolina Honors Chorus in Winston-Salem, the highest honor for a choir student to accomplish in the state. Of all the students to audition only five of those were from Davie High. Out of these five, only one made it: Andy Davis. 

Andy Davis is a junior at Davie High who has been in chorus for all three years of his high school career. Brittany Darst is the choir director for Davie High and partners with the theater teacher Chad Edwards for the musical theater class. Darst has taught Davis for all 3 years and has said he’s had amazing growth musically, saying after not making the NC Honors Chorus last year, she saw him “lock in” on learning the audition’s literacy component, and it paid off in Davis’ favor. 

“I’m just so proud of him,” Darst said. “Like my teacher heart, but also just my mama heart, is really proud of the growth that he has had over the past few months.”

Noah Hamilton, who is Davis’s best friend, is similarly very proud of Davis. He says that his friend’s success this time around is hardly surprising because when Davis wants something enough, he will try his best “because he’s really determined.” Hamilton plans to audition for the Honors Chorus with Davis again next year in the hopes that the two of them can share the stage and the experience. 

For Davis, this event was quite intimidating. Davis is already a talented singer, but the move from being a big fish in a small pond to being surrounded by so many strong vocalists was jarring.

“It was like a smack in the face of how amazing the sound was,” Davis said. “I was a little nervous, but I was definitely more excited just because I’ve been wanting to do it for so long.” 

Davis attributes his love for music to his upbringing. His entire family is musically inclined, and this translated to Davis starting to sing when he was a kid following in his brother Aiden’s footsteps.

Andy, like Aiden, has also choreographed for the audition choir vocal ensemble that performed a medley to the Broadway musical “Elf” based on the 2003 movie of the same name. While his experience with the NC Honors Chorus is now in the rearview, that does not mean that Davis has not continued to be recognized for his talents. Along with three of his classmates, Davis has recently earned a spot in the Wingate University All Select Choir. He was also recognized this past week by Darst at the winter chorus concert with a certificate for his accomplishment.