Summer Band Fun!

Summer 2022 proved to be a busy summer for the Spirit of Woodlan band family. Evening practices started at the end of March and continued through April and May. In June, the practices increased from twice a week to four nights a week. The trip to Disney World was changed to a trip to Cedar Point and Kings Island before being cancelled due to low sign-ups. The students practiced the basics of marching and prepared for parade season. The parade song that was chosen was, "I'm Still Standing" and percussion learned a new cadence. The first parade the band performed in was the Mermaid Festival in North Webster on June 25, 2022.

Spirit of Woodlan at the Mermaid Festival

Hunter Bufink

Lily Hughes, Katy Gilbert, Katie Chlebek

The following week, June 27 - July 1, the students gathered at school for Band Camp daily. They worked hard, sweat a lot, and had a lot of fun together, as always. They practiced the basics of marching and began learning Part One of their show, "Portals of Arcadia". The three movements in their show are "War", "Peace", and "Home".

Hello there, Thomas Raby!

Rogan Thiele

Josiah Thomas chilling with some flowers

Who put that gravel pile and dumpster in the middle of our practice field?

After the first week of Band Camp, the students were given the month of July "off". As much as we all looked forward to having the month of July off, several huge fundraising opportunities arose that took place in July. These fundraisers brought in over $11,300 for the band. Band students, parents, and family members volunteered to run company picnics for both BF Goodrich (July 3-4) and MedPro (July 20). At the end of the month (July 30), the band sold drinks at the Crimestoppers Car Show. As much work as these events were, they were a lot of fun too!

The setup crew helping at BF Goodrich on July 3rd

This July 4th crew helped run the company picnic for BF Goodrich and cleaned up afterwards

Olivia Lake and Apryl Hoot working the MedPro picnic

Katy Gilbert and Hailey Smith working the popcorn booth

Bella Harber and Cory VanHorn were helping with board games

Brandi Walter and Darlene Miller helping with inflatables

Jeff VanHorn and Jeff Walter

Robert, Jeff, and Chrys Kimpel with Jason Harber working the inflatables

Tyler VanHorn and Braedon Miller working the inflatables

Darlene Miller and Raina Sisson

These band students all agreed to get "Bob" henna tattoos; sadly Mr. Slattery never saw them!

Selling drinks at the Crimestoppers Car Show

Dani Lake and Trish Saalfrank at the Crimestoppers Car Show

The first week of August (August 1-5) brought the second week of band camp, as well as a lot of heat! It was a grueling week of practice for the students. They learned drill for Part Two of their show and continued to perfect Part One. Band Camp ended early on Friday, and the students were thrilled to be able to have their traditional water balloon fight between the upperclassmen and the underclassmen (They missed out on this fun last year due to rain and the prior year due to COVID). Over 6000 water balloons were filled and flung, and the kids had a great time. The upperclassmen came prepared for war (complete with war paint) and their water balloons far outnumbered those of the underclassmen. It was an easy win for them.

Josiah Thomas and Joe Jungk - Joe was being Josiah's left arm!

The upperclassmen building their water balloon arsenal at Riley's House before the water balloon fight.

The underclassmen, ready to compete at the water balloon fight!

The upperclassmen were ready to go to war against the underclassmen!

Bella Harber, Izzy Hogle, Braedon Miller, Riley Saalfrank, Rogan Thiele, and Alex Raby

Riley Saalfrank, Bella Harber, Olivia Lake, Rogan Thiele, Delaney Crilly, Emmy Bice, Ava McAlexander, Braedon Miller, Alex Raby, and Joe Jungk

The following day, August 6th, the band performed in their second parade of the season at Harlan Days. They looked and sounded great. They were all happy to have dry weather this year after marching in the pouring rain at Harlan Days last year!

Seniors! Kacie Bowers, Olivia Lake, Rachel Sisson, Riley Saalfrank, and Katie Chlebek

Icy the Eagle (Fort Wayne Komets) came by to visit!

It was then back to school for these students, who then quickly resumed their evening practices. Have you ever seen students work as hard as these kids? In the August heat, into the evenings, with mosquitos feasting on them, they diligently work to run and re-run drills. Last week, as I was heading into the gym to count money for volleyball concessions, I passed some women walking out of the game. They could hear the band practicing on the practice field, and they remarked that they couldn't believe that the band was still out practicing this late, in the dark, in the heat. The one mentioned to the other, "Now THAT'S dedication." I was so proud of all these kids! They are the most dedicated students around!

This past Friday, September 2nd, the band performed in their first football game of the year as Woodlan played Heritage High School. It was a beautiful evening and the sky gave a spectacular show with the gorgeous sunset. The band and guard performed the first two movements of the show, "War" and "Peace". Instead of marching their drill, they "parked and played". This gave the many new students a chance to experience a performance while getting used to their band uniforms, shoes, and gloves.

The band sounded fantastic, and I'm sure you can all agree that we are all very excited to see their first performance in competition this Saturday, September 10th. They will be performing at the "On the Banks of the Wabash" competition in Bluffton. Our class starts at 4:20pm, with the Spirit of Woodlan performing at 4:35pm, followed by awards at 5:20pm. These are some amazing kids who have put so much of themselves into this show already. I hope you can all come out and support them this weekend!