Plainfield South Senior to Sing National Anthem at State Basketball Finals

When senior Brittany Mytnik was called to the principal’s office a few weeks ago, she wasn't sure why.

Turns out the news awaiting her was good: After months of auditions, Mytnik had been selected to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at this Friday's Illinois High School Association's girls state basketball finals.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was shaking. I was so excited.”

Mytnik, 18, went through several rounds of auditions before receiving the honor – a chance to be one of a handful of high school singers who will perform at a college arena in front of the state’s best high school athletes and thousands of basketball fans.

The process began in October, when she auditioned for and was accepted into the Illinois Music Educators Association district choir. Only singers from the top school ensembles are eligible to audition.

Her position as the group's number one Soprano II in the district choir meant she would be allowed to audition the National Anthem at the district’s senior festival in November. There, she made it through the first round of auditions and was invited to audition again at the association's all-state festival, where she would be a member of the all-state honors choir.

At that festival in January, Mytnik was one of only 18 to be granted a final audition.

It was from among that group that she was chosen to sing before the start of two of the Illinois High School Association’s girls basketball state tournament games on Friday at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena in Normal.

The process is “very competitive” and only a handful of singers are chosen from the entire state, Plainfield South High School Choir Director Jeremy Landig said.

Mytnik said this has been one of her goals for the past four years.

The National Anthem can be a hard song to master, she said, and she used to think that she wasn’t able to sing it well.

But she continued to practice and grow as a singer, a trait that Landig admires.

“Brittany is a leader in choir in every sense of the word,” he said. “The remarkable thing about her singing is that she never stops pushing herself to improve. She holds herself to a very high standard. … Her singing is vibrant, flexible and expressive.”

Mytnik, who has been in the choir since fourth grade, is president of her school's concert choir, vice president of the drama club and a member of the Madrigal singers. Later this month will star as Cosette in the "Les Miserables," her eighth school musical production.

“Singing is liberating,” she said. “There are so many things about it, being able to express so many emotions, being able to bring joy to people. The feeling of singing can’t really be explained.”

Mytnik plans to double major in English and music when she goes to college and may attend Millikin University in Decatur or the University of Iowa. Her aspiration is to become a book editor.