HURON — Having the courage to reach for that brass ring when life shows it to you is an internal struggle. A classic. Man against himself.
Or, in the case of 17-year-old Huron High School senior Alexis Ureña, a battle to overcome her natural shyness to pursue a passion.
This past week, Ureña took a major step forward when she stood in front of judges at a tryout for the television show “American Idol.” If you have attended an HHS volleyball game, you have likely seen Ureña pancaking on the floor from her position as a defensive specialist. And, you also probably heard her sing the National Anthem before the teams took to the floor.
“I think the first time I did the anthem was before the Breast Cancer Awareness game last year,” the soft-spoken teenager says. Just doing that was quite an accomplishment for her.
“I used to be really, really shy,” she says with a tentative grin. “I wasn’t really comfortable having people looking at me while I was singing and such, but gradually I have become more comfortable with it.”
With dozens of performances at sporting events, different school activities and more, Ureña has continually sung the anthem better and better.
“I get support from my mom,” she says. “She really likes to listen to me sing. And Mrs. Petersen helped me with a lot of positive encouragement.”
Mrs. Petersen is Laura Petersen, who was, through this spring, the vocal music director at the high school. “She talked to me about being a great singer and encouraging me to work at showing myself more and more,” Ureña said. Ureña was an alternate for All-State Chorus last year as an alto, and will be in this year’s mass choir.
Petersen, who is now the elementary music teacher in the Harrisburg School District said that Ureña has natural talent that is not even close to being tapped. Yet.
“I have had the pleasure of working with many, many talented kids,” Petersen said via telephone. “Alexis is just bursting with talent. She may be the most naturally talented student I’ve had. She can do so much with her voice...and she does it so naturally.”
Ureña said that while her parents, Juan and Jessica Ureña, are very supportive, they are not outwardly musical. “American Idol was kind of Mom’s idea,” Ureña said. “Well, Mrs. Petersen kind of started the ball rolling.”
Petersen said that she had seen a notice on Facebook and shared it with Ureña. “It was kind of a ‘You should think about this,’ sort of thing,” Petersen said. When the notice of the tryouts in Omaha came up again, Petersen dangled the challenge again.
So, Ureña took a deep breath and signed up.
She traveled with her parents to Omaha, where the American Idol bus was parked near the Lewis and Clark Landing. It was easy to find, she said. There was a really, really, really long line of people.
“It was kind of overwhelming, to see all those people,” Ureña said. “But it was so cool to stand in line and hear people singing or playing guitar to get ready.”
Eventually, she was escorted into one of four tents, where she performed “Leave me Lonely,” made popular by Ariana Grande.