"I would be lying if I said I wasn’t overwhelmed at times," Mullins continued. "There I was, far from home, surrounded by unfamiliar sights and faces. I would leave the master classes feeling as though I knew nothing about music. I would leave rehearsals thinking we would never make the deadline. My mind was constantly screaming, “Fight or flight!” (Given that the flight was a literal 19 hour flight, fight it was.) I would find myself questioning my abilities and my right to participate with these caliber of musicians, but through my conversations and experiences with my fellow students, I learned that I wasn’t alone. And that was the beauty of it all. None of us were truly alone, despite what we felt at times. We were together in our pursuits, ambitions, struggles, and triumphs. The international meeting is what dreams are made of."Thomas Mullins, a 2015 graduate of Northwest Vista College, entered the UTSA music program with a full scholarship in composition in fall 2015. A student of classical guitarist Dan Smith, he auditioned on guitar. He studies trombone and improvisation with Armin Marmolejo of Palo Alto College. As a composer, Mullins received a Jack Stone Award for New Music in 2013, while at Northwest Vista College.
