Pike County High School senior Abriam Eggers joined over 400 other musicians at the Tri-State Band Festival on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. last weekend.

Eggers was selected from a large list of applicants from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and one of just a handful of students from the state of Alabama.

The trip to Tallahassee was “a big deal” for Eggers, who said that he even garnered a special nickname over the weekend.

“They called be ‘Bama’ cause they said I was country,” said Eggers with a smile. “The Alabama/Georgia game was the same weekend, so we had some fun with that.”

During the weekend Eggers, a saxophone player, was a member of one of four concert bands. Each band performed on the final day of the festival.

The festival was designed 32 years ago to provide rewarding musical experiences for high school students and their directors.

Jimmy Oliver, band director at Pike County High, said that it has been fun and exciting to watch the growth of Eggers’ musical ability through the years.

“He has been at this for about six years now,” said Oliver. “To see him go from where he was and to where he is now is amazing. The future is bright for him, because he is willing to work at his craft.”

Eggers’ listed the Prism Concerts as his favorite event of the weekend. The Prism are 90-minute non-stop wind and percussion performances that are held four times over the duration of the event.

Eggers said that one of the biggest things he had to get used to was going from a big fish in a little pond, to a small fish in a big pond.

“Everyone there is so good and talented,” said Eggers. “To see all the different musicians and skills was really fun. Everyone had a different skill or trick.”

Eggers is scheduled to graduate in May and said that he wants to pursue music in college, but is unsure of where he wants to go.

“Florida State is definitely on the list,” said Eggers. “But I don’t want to limit myself to one place. I like having options, and have found that anything is possible if you are willing to work hard at it.”