Our school community excels in many things: athletics, academics, clubs and even school spirit. However, there are multiple activities within our school that do not receive enough recognition for what they do, and their hard work and dedication often goes unnoticed. Every day, our school band and color guard team practice for hours to improve themselves, just like any other sports team or club, however they rarely receive full recognition for their efforts. They also travel to the football games at Clark Field and put on a halftime show for all of the spectators, march at the Big E and put on shows throughout the year for whoever wants to come out and appreciate the art of music and production.
The color guard team performs a variety of different routines that revolve around fancy, colorful uniforms as well as decorative flags. Their routines include dancing with both their bodies and their flags. All of the focus is on their flags, however, as they twirl and spin through the air and soar from hand to hand in unison with the music produced by the band. “My favorite part about color guard is performing at the football games,” says Molly Ryder, junior who has been involved with the color guard team since she was in sixth grade. Normally only high school students are allowed to be on the team; however, her older sister Shelby was involved, therefore she was given the opportunity to join earlier. Watching their routines is mesmerizing, and their performance takes a lot of hard work, focus and courage.
If you have ever attended a Terriers’ Friday night football game, you may have seen both the band and color guard put on an energetic and upbeat show while the teams take a break. However, aside from that, they are often overlooked. “The band doesn’t feel like it’s noticed around the school,” said Luke Dukette, a junior who puts a lot of time in staying after school hours to practice with the rest of the band. “We’re known amongst football, cheerleaders and color guard because we play with them. But outside of those core groups we aren’t normally heard of.”
This may seem unlike West Side, because our school is commonly known for our school spirit at sports games, pep rallies and involvement in clubs and extracurriculars. However, it is easy to overlook something that you do not understand or are not interested in, and though they may not get enough recognition, it doesn’t mean that they work and less harder than any other team. “It’s always hard to try to reach the best that you can,” Dukette shares. He says that they have a new band teacher this year as well, who is always striving to push his group to do their best.
Partaking in any extracurricular activity is a lot of work for students nowadays as they try to balance their homework, home-life
as well as activities outside of school. Every person who is involved in school activities deserves recognition and support for their hard work. The band members and color guard team are highly motivated and talented, and their dedication to their passion is impressive.
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