Band placed 8th at the Kelly Reeves Competition on November 5th. This was their last competition of the marching season.

During this competition, they must perform their show to utmost perfection in order to earn a spot within the finals. In order to reach perfection, these students must all prepare themselves and remain calm before they give it their all. 

“Beforehand, we just got in the mood to hold ourselves accountable and just be respectful to one another,” Kainen Guerra, a senior drum major, said. “We push our differences aside and take in the fact that we all need to work together in order to be successful.”

Once the band members are in the right mindset, it is time to get into their positions on the field and begin their show. 

“A lot happened during the competition. I can’t speak for the whole band, but I will say that I got a pretty confident feeling,”  junior Liberty Alejos, a flute player, said. “When you’re in the show marching, you kind of get lost in the music. You don’t necessarily focus on one thing you did bad on, you just move on because everything happens so fast.”

These feelings helped the band reach their goal – having fun and scoring well.

“Going into the prelims – which was the first round – we finished 8th place out of 15 and we got to go to finals – the second round,” Guerra said. “After the finals, we finished in 8th place with a score of 86 out of 100. So, we didn’t really change much – we were consistent – and that was really nice.”

Even though this was the end of the marching and competing season for the band, their finishing score was more than satisfying in their book.

“For our last performance – our last competition – I felt that it was a great way to end the season. I felt that even if we didn’t make finals in our first performance, it was a good way to end the season,” Alejos said. “Where we placed isn’t what necessarily holds the values, it’s the memories we made – and we made some good ones.”

The band members, drum majors, and instructors have dedicated several months to perfect this performance. Their efforts and their commitment to their show lead them to that very moment – earning their own spot within the finals and receiving such a high score.

“At UIL, we put on a great show and scored a 1 – the highest rating. Then we get to go to Kelly Reeves and we also do an awesome job,” Guerra proclaimed. “Just knowing we got to finish off the season with our greatest performance was such a high point in everyone’s season and such a great way to end it. It gives up hope to be even greater in the years to come.”