Fabiola Caraballo Quijada stood in the center of the Broadway stage – a spotlight focused on her – as she sang “Astonishing” from “Little Women.” The artistic journey that had begun years ago in East Texas had taken her to New York City.

Caraballo Quijada, a recent Tyler Legacy High School graduate, was one of two winners in The Jimmy Awards in New York City. The awards, officially known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, recognize outstanding artistry in dance as well as acting and vocal performance.

The Jimmy Awards includes week-long training in New York City in which high school students are trained by Broadway professionals. Carballo Quijada was first selected into the program in 2023. In 2024, she was a finalist for the award.

The program culminates in a talent showcase in June on Broadway.

“I’m so very blessed to have that picture in my head and that feeling in my heart of what it was like to be on that stage the two times that it has happened in my life and everything I was feeling, and you know my head was just in 17 different places, but I was so grounded anyway,” Caraballo Quijada said.

Having the chance to win the award with the song “Astonishing” was a testament of her progress over the years. The song reflects the development of the character Jo March in “Little Women,” and it also is the first musical theater song Caraballo Quijada learned.

“This character goes from anger to nostalgia to hope and into power, and so I really love the dynamic of this song,” she said.

However, what speaks to Caraballo Quijada more is how she relates to Jo’s character.

“There is one line in the song that says ‘I may be small, but I have giant plans,’ and that could not be more accurate cause I am 5-foot-1, and I am very stubborn,” she said.

Selection process

According to the Jimmy Awards website, there are 55 regional awards programs, and 110 students were nominated this year. Each regional program selects a male and female nominee for the awards.

The process to be selected in the program starts at the regional level. For Caraballo Quijada, her process began with being nominated for the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards. This year, she was selected for her role as Sandra Bloom of “Big Fish” performed at Tyler Legacy High School.

“Broadway Dallas comes and sees high school productions of musicals in the North Texas area,” Caraballo Quijada said. “So the school requests Broadway Dallas to send over judges so that they can see the show, they judge the show and they select people throughout all the shows that they’ve seen at the end of the year to select 13 female nominees and 13 male nominees to compete in the Broadway, Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards.”

She added that the winners of Broadway Dallas are then chosen as the nominees for the Jimmy Awards.

But that’s only the beginning. Once students began their training in New York, they entered the preliminary audition stage, Caraballo Quijada said. That stage narrows down 20 female students and 20 male students who then perform the character they were chosen for once again in a medley.

“It’s super, super fun. They get to technically play their character for the last time in the biggest place ever: a Broadway stage,” Caraballo Quijada said. “From a high school stage to a Broadway stage – what a journey.”

Finally, all nominees performed June 23, and finalists were named, Caraballo Quijada said.

“Then almost immediately, you have to prepare to perform by yourself on a dark Broadway stage with a single spotlight on you,” she said.

And though it wasn’t her first time performing alone on a Broadway stage, what powered her though her performance is knowing the support system of teachers, directors, friends and family always watching and encouraging her.

“I brought that feeling back, that beautiful feeling of holding the hands of the people you love on that stage winning,” she said. “I was very, very happy to feel like I was ultimately making them proud and in every way shape and form.”

Representing her roots

Caraballo Quijada was born in Venezuela and moved in 2013 at age 5 to the United States with her mother. Her passion for the arts started when her mom would sing to her.

Once they moved to Tyler, Texas, Caraballo Quijada began taking classes at the Tyler Civic Theatre, where she was in plays. She performed her first musical theater production in middle school.

She then met Megan Magill, a former Broadway actress who moved back to East Texas to raise a family. Magill started her own studio called Magill Musical Theatre where Caraballo Quijada began taking classes, “and that was what propelled me in my passion for musical theater,” she said.

Caraballo Quijada enjoyed the daily classes and musical exercises that challenged her.

“(Magill) gave us so many opportunities to just discover ourselves as artists and what we could do,” Caraballo Quijada said.

She attributes her time at Magill Musical Theatre and her productions at Tyler Legacy Theatre as what helped her reach the Jimmy Awards.

During her awards ceremony acceptance speech, Caraballo Quijada said, “This is what immigrants can do.”

“So the fact that I could be on that stage proving that someone’s potential does not lie in the color of their skin or where they’re from. I had to put that out there, and it’s something I believe in, it’s something that you know my family has worked hard for,” she said.

Overall, she said she that her words and her journey inspire anyone.

“I hope that people can see that everything is possible,” she said. “I think it’s necessary to let people spread their wings and fly wherever they want to.”

This fall, Caraballo Quijada will be attending Texas State University in San Marcos where she will major in musical theater.

She advises young artists to keep fighting to accomplish their goals.

“The fight doesn’t stop, but it is rewarding at a certain point,” she said. “You know you never know when that reward will come, but just know that your hard work accumulates and there will be a time, a spot in your life, where all that hard work will just explode into a bright light of success, and you’re gonna be able to watch it all come down on you, and it’s gonna be so beautiful like a big firework.”

To watch Caraballo Quijada’s winning performance, visit tinyurl.com/3mhu8af4 .