Sad Seniors Leave their Marching Memories Behind

There are many seniors who are sad to graduate and leave their high school careers behind. Many are excited to start their new path, as well, but the seniors involved with Marching Band are extremely sad to leave behind all the memories made, and all the support that came with the experience of Marching Band. 

Seniors Shaila Cristopher, Emily LeVan, and Aaliyah Smith all agree that they will miss Marching Band the most. All of them have been involved with Marching Band for all 4 years of their high school experience. 

Shaila marched alto saxophone all 4 years, and was a student leader for her junior and senior year. Aaliyah was a part of the Color Guard all 4 years, and was a student leader her junior and senior year, as well.  Emily was involved with the Frontline, which are mallet instruments and other small instruments, where she played marimba for 4 years.  

Aaliyah states that she will miss when the Color Guard gets to hang out and chill, stating,  “Instead of stressing about what’s going on in the season, we just talk and relax.” Shaila says that she will miss getting to meet new people and make bonds with them, because the “band kids” are some of the best people out there! Emily says she will miss the instructors and her friends the most because, “The instructors are always encouraging us to do our best.” 

The seniors have their own favorite memory from their whole high school Marching Band career. Emily’s favorite memory was from her last marching season where the rain was pouring down pretty hard, but, “We still performed our absolute best.” Shaila’s favorite memory was her “Freshman year when I performed the show Wacked Poe-tic at Illinois University.” Wacked Poe-tic was Shaila’s favorite show out of the 4 seasons she’s been a part of. Aaliyah’s favorite memory was her junior year during mid-October, it started snowing and “Colorguard started playing Christmas music for the rest of the rehearsal.”  

Peter Carlin, the head director of Marching Band says that his favorite actions about the senior class was their determination of wanting to be great. Being great requires a lot of hard work and pushing each person in the band to be the best they could possibly be. His favorite memory made with the senior class was, “Making finals and winning finals last year, and the last two performances of the past season.” The last two performances brought tears to his eyes. He was extremely proud of the band.  

Carlin states that, “I always miss my senior classes. They were the leaders and they were here the longest to help out the underclassmen. It’d be great to have a whole senior marching band, and boy would that be cool.” He is very proud of what the band has accomplished and would not have been so successful without the help of the upperclassmen, but he hopes for even bigger accomplishments next year, and that the seniors come back to see what has been done. He hopes they enjoy what they may see next year for the future of the Marching Band.