East Texas High School Student Gets Invited to Play Carnegie Hall

It's the opportunity of a lifetime for one high school junior, but it can't happen without a little help.

East Texans always seem to come through in a pinch, and they're jumping in now to help a single mom send her son on a prestigious trip to New York's Carnegie Hall. 

He's been playing the double bass since sixth grade, and all of the hard work is about to pay off!

Kilgore High School junior, Jacob Stone is getting ready to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City after being named a finalist in Carnegie Hall's High School Honors Performance Series after auditioning back in July.

The once-in-a-lifetime trip is coming up in February, and Jacob will get to spend several days touring New York while he's there practicing with other high school musicians before they all perform at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium.  Most of us don't even get the change to visit that landmark venue to watch a show, let alone be on stage for a performance as a high school junior.  Nice work, Jacob.

Music runs in the Stone family.  The Longview News-Journal says Jacob's great-grandfather, Jack B. England, was a longtime band director at Pine Tree High School.

Jacob's mom says on a GoFundMe Account that she isn't one to ever ask for help, but she can't make the trip happen for him on her own. She set a goal of $5000 to cover the expenses for the trip, and at last check the fund was about halfway there.  The fund is still up if you'd like to be part of making the trip happen.

Good luck Jacob!  We know you'll make East Texas proud.