From the first time Joshua Doe heard the sound coming from Catherine Awad’s clarinet, he knew special things were in store for her.

“She is one of the most musical students I’ve ever had and this is my ninth year teaching,” said the Niles High School band director.

Doe’s intuition was correct as the Niles High School junior became the only student from southwest Michigan to qualify to play in the 2015/16 High School All-State Band.

More than 2,600 high school students from across the state auditioned and only a few more than 100 were chosen, including 24 clarinet players.

“It is a huge honor,” said Doe. “Between this and the Michigan Youth Arts Festival — which she got into last year — these are probably two of the highest achievements a kid can have.”

Awad will join the rest of the all-state band members in Grand Rapids for two days of rehearsals leading up to a performance at the Michigan Music Conference in the DeVos Center next month.

“I am just excited to be able to work with a lot of good musicians,” said Awad.

Originally from Egypt, Awad moved to Niles at age 3 and began playing clarinet in the sixth grade.

She said she did not get serious about music until last year when she began taking private lessons with Joshua’s wife, Tianna, a band director in Bangor.

“I hear more music and I want to become more like what I hear so I practice more,” she said. “Playing — it just makes me feel better. It is a different world when I play. I just get into it and forget about everything else.”

Awad said she practiced two hours a day in preparation for the all-state audition for District 6, which was held at Upton Middle School.

Doe said students had to prepare two excerpts, memorize scales and sight read during the audition.

Awad got off to a rough start.

“I messed the first part up, but after that all my nervousness went away and I played everything well after that,” she said.

Several weeks later she got a call from the Does saying she had made it.

“I was really happy,” Awad said. “Hard work finally paid off.”

Awad does not know for sure what role music will play in her future, but she said it would always be part of her life in some way.

Doe said the all-state experience should spark even more growth in Award.

“This I am hoping will continue to give her confidence and continue to inspire her to work toward whatever her goal is for music,” he said. “She is super driven and we are very, very proud of her.”