Maira Srivastava was 10 years old when her mother signed her up for iSing Silicon Valley, the all-girls choir based on Colorado Avenue.

Six years later, the Palo Alto 16-year-old holds a first-place medal from one of the country's most competitive vocal contests.

Srivastava won the Commercial Music Treble Voice division at the 2026 National Student Auditions, run by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. The finals took place July 3–5 in San Antonio, Texas, where only 96 students out of approximately 16,800 participants placed first, second, or third across all categories, according to Palo Alto Online. The win carried a $1,200 cash prize.

It was Srivastava's first time reaching the national finals. To get there, she had to place in a regional audition, survive a video preliminary round, then advance through semifinals with just 15 singers per category before the top three competed for the title.

She credits her singing teacher Erin McOmber, a Doctor of Musical Arts who has taught voice privately since 1997 and serves as a voice instructor and voice curriculum leader at iSing Silicon Valley. McOmber is herself a NATS member.

Srivastava's path to the stage started with Hindi music. As a child, she sang along when her parents played songs at home. Her mother discovered iSing Silicon Valley, the Palo Alto-based program founded in 2013 that now serves more than 400 girls from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Early on, the choir's practice of picking students to sing solo in front of the group and field critiques from teachers intimidated her. It worked.

"I used to get stage fright pretty often, but now, because of iSing, I've built more of a stage persona for myself, and I've become less afraid," Srivastava told Palo Alto Online.

iSing Silicon Valley has its own track record of elite competition success. The choir won two championship titles at the 2025 European Choir Games in Aarhus, Denmark, and earned a "Champions of the World" title plus a gold medal at the 2023 World Choir Games in South Korea.

Srivastava said her stage confidence has carried into academics and her sense of identity. Total prize money across all NATS National Student Auditions categories exceeded $84,000 this year.