LEWISTOWN — Becoming a performer in high school certainly fueled Malachi Snyder’s desire for a career in music education.

At Mifflin County High School, Snyder was a member of the Marching Huskies marching band, concert choir, concert band, cantare, jazz band, indoor drum line and festivals.

As a freshman at Commonwealth University-Mansfield (formerly Mansfield University), music has catapulted Snyder to a seemingly different world.

The 18-year-old Lewistown native was recently among voice students from Mansfield who competed at the Allegheny Mountain Chapter (AMC) National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions, held in November at Gettysburg College.

The auditions included around 120 entries from around Pennsylvania.

Snyder came home from the grueling competition as a semifinalist, having performed three songs in three different languages — English, Italian and German.

Snyder admits he isn’t fluent in either Italian and German, knowing only enough about the language to perform the songs.

It was a long day of competition as the singers traveled in two vans about three to four hours from Mansfield to Gettysburg by van then back home again after the competition.

Finalists performed a concert for a crowd of 300 to 400. “We got there early in the morning,” Snyder recalled. “There was our professor and about 17 students.”

They arrived back in Mansfield around 11 p.m. For his achievements, Snyder received a certificate, and experience that should certainly prove priceless on his journey to hone his craft and find a job in music education.

Both of the voice faculty at Mansfield, Dr. Todd Ranney and Dr. Alissa Rose, had student winners at the competitions, where students competed against peers of a similar age and experience level. The top three winners in each category were featured in a final concert at the end of the auditions and additional students were recognized as semi-finalists.

All students received comment sheets from the judges, who are voice teachers and NATS members. These auditions provide an opportunity for the students to receive feedback on their singing, hear other students from the region and be exposed to a wide variety of repertoire.

NATS is the largest association of teachers of singing in the world, with members in more than 25 countries, and the student auditions are one of the major activities of each NATS chapter.

“I am Husky and Mountie proud of Malachi,” Mifflin County High School and Mifflin County Junior High School Choral Director Vicki Fensterbush said. “It’s evident that he is putting in the countless hours of practice necessary to be a successful music major. Congratulations on being named a semi-finalist at the NATS competition as a freshmen.”

At Mifflin County, Snyder was a first-time participant at the all-state level, as a senior. He earned the voice part of Bass I.

Snyder has been singing since age 5 and tried to make the most of every musical opportunity he could, as a member of various school ensembles as well as the Logan Guards Drum and Bugle Corps in Lewistown.

“Music is such a big part of my life, and it pushes me to be better as a musician and a person,” Snyder said.