Marching Band attends first competition of the season

by Ace R.

On September 23, the marching band attended the Boiling Springs Festival of Bands and came home with a second place trophy. Here’s how they did it.

With four other bands in the same division the eagle band won second place in every category which included, Percussion, visual aesthetic, color guard, and music. This concluded in the band winning second place overall in the 1A division.

The band headed off to Boiling Springs High School early in the morning and returned later in the evening but it was all worth it to display their hours of hard work. All thirty nine kids ranging from the eighth grade to twelfth put on an incredible show.

The show is called “Ghost Train” and is a creepy parody of the song “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne. The show follows three songs or movements. The show is supposed to show lost souls finding their way home or to the acceptance of death. The story follows a little girl who’s father once told her of a train where souls go when they become lost. It then progresses with a dark and ominous first movement, then with a light and ethereal second movement, and a joyous and bright third movement to finish off. Whether it be their first competition of many or their last first competition, they put all they had into it.

Kelby K., the band's Drum Major, is the highest leader in the band. Kelby spent years working his way up to this position and is a proud Airport band senior. “I was elated to hear our placement,” he commented upon the results of the competition. He followed with, “I know we can bring home that first place trophy.” Kelby K. is clearly very proud of his band and their accomplishments and knows just how far they are going to go this year.

Sonia R. is a color guard veteran and this is her second season with the Airport high school band and said the best part of the competition and most competitions she’s attended is the post-performance hangout. Spending time with her friends and getting excited for the awards ceremony.

The second trumpet of our marching band Serenity R. revealed the last time the marching band got second place at first competition was in 2011 so this was definitely a new accomplishment. She also mentioned this accomplishment may have made the band overconfident within themselves.

While being so close to first is usually a downer the band’s morale hasn’t seemed to fault quite yet. The opposite has occurred, this band's attitude remains positive. Mr. Spitler, Coach Paz, Kelby K. and other leaders of the marching band have made sure to stay encouraging as a negative outlook could lead to a negative outlook at the next competition that will occur only a week after the festival of bands.

The marching band competes every Saturday with intent to bring home more trophies and wins. If you’d like to come support the band they will perform at Laurens School District 55 high school and put their show on at 12pm.