For the second year in a row a local student will have the opportunity to share his love for music with more than 160 other students this weekend.

Twelve-year-old Jeremy Boyd will travel to Birmingham this weekend for the annual Alabama Baptist All-State Honor Choir.

The weekend event is something Boyd has been looking forward to since last year.

“It’s fun. We have activities in between our practices and we get to stay in nice hotels,” he said. “We also have big group devotions.”

Boyd said what draws him most to the honor choir is his passion for music and singing God’s word to people.

“Music is a passion of mine. It’s just something I love.” he said. “I also play the alto sax and piano. I’ve been singing in the kids’ choir at church since I was 4 years old.”

Still, Boyd said he is a little disappointed to be the only youngster from Covington County going.

“I wish others would try out,” he said.

“Maybe others are intimidated by the audition tape we have to do. But, it’s not that hard. Ms. Sonia and Mr. Dwight (Crigger) helped me a lot.”

Boyd said Sonia Crigger, a music teacher Andalusia Middle School, played certain keys and he had to sing those, and he also had to sing one melody line without the piano and one harmony line with the piano.

Dwight Crigger, music minister at the First Baptist Church, said others should try out, too.

“You have a certain thing to sing such as a hymn,” he said. “We put everything on a digital recorder and then burn to a CD. It’s not a hard audition. The singer has to sing the alto line. They sing the harmony instead of the melody. It’s open to students who are actively involved in choir.”

Students must have a recommendation from their choir director in order to participate, and Crigger said he did not have a problem giving Boyd a recommendation.

“Jeremy is an easy child to help. He is teachable and he is serious about it,” he said.

Boyd’s mother, Stephanie, said she wished other area children would get involved in the honor choir. “Other larger churches get together and they do special things like play the bells or dances,” Stephanie said. “If we could get one child from each church or just a few, we could do something like that and represent this county.” This weekend, Boyd along with the other 168 other members of the choir will sing at “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Alabama-Auburn basketball game in Tuscaloosa.

The weekend tour will also include a concert Saturday night at Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa and two performances during worship at a Birmingham church.