A college student from SUNY Fredonia is taking his talent from a small town to the big stage as he performed the national anthem at Highmark Stadium before the Buffalo Bills game on Sunday against the New York Jets.

Lucas West says this will be an opportunity of a lifetime, as he's always had a love for music.

“My mom was a music teacher growing up and I was just constantly surrounded by music,” West said. “All sorts of music at that, you know, classical music and classical piano was really where I started my training when I was 6 years old.”

West has spent years playing piano and singing. Finding his talent as a gift, his family continued to support him.

“When a child has a talent or an interest, you can only foster it,” Lucas’ father, Matthias, West said. “Lucas is a kid that really grew up loving music, and he was always actively singing and then learning the piano and trying to be in as many productions and theater and songs as he can.”

West has auditioned for shows such as American Idol, and you can often catch him performing at his job at Faircraft Brauhaus, both serving and singing to its guests.

“I do have a gig here at our craft house on Jan. 3,” Lucas said. “I do the whole Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Grover Washington, junior piano voice thing.”

Lucas, now a sophomore in college, continues to pursue his passion at SUNY Fredonia School of Music, receiving an email for the opportunity of a lifetime.

“I received an email during the spring semester last year, my freshman year, saying they're holding open auditions for the anthem for the Bills home game,” Lucas said. “I skipped maybe one, I don't know, four classes or something like that. [I] dashed straight to Starbucks and hashed my own arrangement out."

With hundreds of auditions sent in, Lucas waited for months, until one day he was notified about the results while in school.

“I was sitting in my jazz theory class in mid-September,” Lucas said. “It was 9:30 a.m. I was super tired. The first person that I told was a person named Dan Novak, he was sitting right next to me in my jazz theory class. And then I went into the hallway and flipped out [on] Facetime [to] my mother.”

Lucas was then given a chance to perform the national anthem for his favorite team. Lucas says this moment will be one he will never forget. He is sharing his gifts from a small town to the big stage at Highmark Stadium.

“I really feel like I'm presenting myself more than a piece that I prepared for,” Lucas said. “I practiced it for months and months. I've really internalized it into who I am. And I'm just ready to continue to be myself and be a Bills Mafia member and sing it for the Bills.”