North Springs Student Auditions For 'American Idol'

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — North Springs Charter High School is abuzz with excitement as performing arts magnet student Victoria McQueen’s audition before "American Idol" judges Luke Bryan, Katie Perry and Lionel Richie airs at 8 p.m. Monday, March 19. Will she get the golden ticket and go on to Hollywood?

“It’s all so cool; everyone, including me, is really excited,” is all she can say.

Victoria, a 10th-grader who has been singing “since I was three, practically my whole life,” gets up at 4:45 a.m. during the week to catch the bus to North Springs so she can be part of the school’s visual and performing arts magnet program. Last year as a freshman, she had one of the female leads in the school’s musical, "Sister Act."

This year she had hoped to audition for this year’s school musical, "Into the Woods," which opened March 15. But preparing for her 'Idol' audition and maintaining her school work did not leave her enough time for the show (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

On a typical day, after she gets home from school around 5:30 p.m., she tries to practice for one to two hours and do her homework. Her “catch up Saturdays” begin with a vocal aerobics class and continue with choir practice for her church and afternoon vocal practice at Tara Simons Studios.

“My whole family is very musical," Victoria said. "My grandmother sang in night clubs and my mom went to college for singing; she is my vocal coach."

It was her father who saw the poster about announcing "American Idol" auditions last summer and took her to the try-outs.

“We got up at 4 a.m. so we could be in line by 5 a.m., even though the line didn’t open until nine,” Victoria said. By 11 am, she was singing a cappella outdoors in the hot sun in front of three producers for the show.

That was followed by an audition video, getting a call back to come to New Orleans for more rounds of auditions before finally being selected to audition before the celebrity judges, which she did in Nashville. As for the outcome, Victoria and her family are sworn to secrecy. Even she and her family did not know when her audition would air until last week.

Now that the wait is over, friends and family are invited to join Victoria and her family for a viewing party from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, March 19 at Hudson Grille at 6317 Roswell Road.

Photo: Victoria McQueen. Credit: North Springs Charter High School