Gallery • 13 Photos

By Molly Carr

Looking out over her peers, senior Marah Shulda directs the band on Wednesday, Sept. 19th at the Bonner Springs High school competition. The Jaguar band performed their routines and received a two rating. "We did really well today," Shulda said. "Even though we made some new mistakes I'm really proud of our work."

The Mill Valley marching band competed against several other local high school bands on Wednesday, Sep. 19 at Bonner Spring High School. The band earned a two ranking, one point away from a one ranking, and placed second overall at the competition.

For the performance, the band performed “The Phoenix” by Fall Out Boy, “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay and “Uprising” by Muse. Senior and trumpet player Dylan Wootton was satisfied with marching band’s start to the season.

“I think we did very well for our first competition, especially since we had so many practices rained out,” Wootton said.

According to sophomore baritone player Colin Cahoy, the band wanted to make sure everything was perfect before their competition.

“We warmed up before we got on the bus,” Cahoy said. “When we got to Bonner, we ran through some parts of our show before we went to perform.”

After the band’s performance, the group split into their individual sections to receive special tutoring and critiques from Kansas State University section leaders and band leaders. This portion of the event stuck out to Wootton as vital to the rest of the season.

“Our individual critiques were great,” Wootton said. “They allowed for us to get critiqued by a college marching band instructor before we go to the bigger competitions.”

Although the Bonner competition was a good start to the competition season, Wootton believes there is still room to improve throughout the year.

“We definitely have a lot to improve on before the big competitions like Emporia and K-State,” Wootton said.

The marching band will compete again at the Emporia State Marching Festival at Emporia State University on Wednesday, Oct. 3. and at the Kansas State Marching Festival at Kansas State University on Saturday, Oct. 6.