Winter Guard Completes Their Season and Winter Winds Competes at Prelims

This past weekend was a busy one for the members of Woodlan’s Winter Programs! Winter Guard competed in the Indiana High School Color Guard Association’s Divisional Finals at Decatur Central High School on Saturday, March 11th. That evening, Winter Winds competed in Indiana Percussion Association’s State Prelims at Westfield High School. Both groups put on great performances and represented Woodlan among the best groups in the state!

Winter Guard was first up in competition this weekend, and the lovely Katy Gilbert has returned with her amazing blogging skills to bring you all the details of their day!

Since the beginning of their season in January, the Woodlan Winter Guard has been practicing and preparing for this very moment- IHSCGA Finals. The performers and staff have put their blood, sweat, and tears into the show to build up to this competition.

This past Saturday, March 11th, the Woodlan Winter Guard competed at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis in the Festival Class Divisional Finals. The day started with everyone arriving at the school at 7 AM to run a last-minute practice and to exchange “Secret Sibling” gifts. (It’s a fun tradition the guard has!) At around 9, the students hopped onto the bus for a long ride, which included playing volleyball with a Sponge Bob and dolphin plush.

After arriving at Decatur Central High School, the guard ate their lunch and even met up with an old teammate, Paige Hasselman, from the Tattooed Heart Show! The kids had some time to relax and have fun with each other before the time came to scrub in for their last competition of the season. The Woodlan Winter Guard took the floor in competition one last time. This show was especially bittersweet as it was the last competition for seniors Katie Chlebek and Collin Ely. Once again, the guard wowed the crowd and left their directors thoroughly impressed.

Woodlan Winter Guard finished their season with a Silver Rating from the Indiana High School Color Guard Association! Though some of the kids are disappointed with how they placed, it needs to be said how far these students have come since the beginning of their season. From having performers pulled, performers injured, a mostly new guard, and almost everything in

between, the guard had a lot of cards stacked against them. Despite all of this, they rose to the occasion and worked to make sure that they were amazing.

The Woodlan community is so proud of these students and they should be super proud

of themselves as well. If this season has shown anything, it is the perseverance, dedication, and hard work that the Woodlan Winter Guard has. What started as a challenging season ended up showing the amazing talent of all of these performers, no matter what rating they received. To us, they are well-deserving of a Gold Rating! Amazing job to Nicole Osborn, Jennifer Spencer, Roy Castillo, and Kacie Bowers for putting together an amazing show. And of course, OUTSTANDING job to Katie, Collin, Katelynn, Alivia, Miles, Paige, and Bayli for putting on this amazing show and honoring the healthcare workers who were on the front lines during the pandemic.

The Winter Guard competition season may be over, but don’t worry if you didn’t get a chance to see them perform! The guard will be performing at the Community Performance after the March for Mental Health on March 17th, along with the Winter Winds! We hope to see you all there!

This past Saturday also was a long day for the members of Woodlan Winter Winds. They gathered at the school at 7:45am for a morning rehearsal before loading the trailers and having lunch together. They enjoyed a lunch of walking tacos, Little Debbie snacks, and amazing huge frosted sugar cookies made by Mrs. Spellman. After lunch, the students loaded onto the bus and made their way to Westfield High School, north of Indianapolis.

We arrived at Westfield very early and had lots of time to sit around and relax. Eventually, it was time for the students to change into uniforms and get ready for warm-ups. Logistics this weekend were much better organized than the week before, so it was much less chaotic! After a great warm-up, Woodlan Winter Winds took the floor for their performance around 7pm. They have worked very hard on their music specifically this week, and their efforts paid off! They did a wonderful job, and they made huge improvements in their music! They have seen the same music judge 4 performances in a row now, and he gave them a huge boost in their scores this week. They made changes to the show and added new visuals, and they gave a great performance.

Performing in the Winter Winds circuit, it can be disheartening at times for the students, as they are competing in the same class as some very large bands. Several of the groups in Winds Scholastic A come from bands that are Class A bands in marching band. These bands come from huge schools and often have many more resources. This weekend, the top three bands were from Class A, and the fourth place band was from Class C. This can be frustrating for the students to try to compete with. However, Woodlan Winds students have been working really hard and are really putting on a fantastic show. Many judges and members of other bands have remarked that they love our show this season, and everyone agrees that it is a really fun show. Our students have heart and give the crowd a really fun show that is enjoyed by so many.

At the Awards Ceremony, Woodlan Winter Winds finished in 5th place out of 7 bands and saw a noticeable boost in their scores this weekend. Their hard work paid off and they were really proud of their performance.

The placements for Winds Scholastic A were:

1. Ben Davis Winter Winds

2. Kokomo Indoor Winds

3. Washington Winds

4. Lake Central Winds

5. Woodlan Winter Winds

6. Clay City Winter Winds

7. Owen Valley Indoor Winds

Woodlan Winter Winds has an even bigger week ahead. This Friday, March 17, 2023, Winter Winds will be hosting the March for Mental Health fundraiser at Woodlan. Proceeds from this fundraiser will support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Winter Winds program. Following the March for Mental Health, Winter Winds will perform during the Community Performance at 8pm. On Saturday, March 18th, Winter Winds will head to Avon High School in Indianapolis for their final competition of this season at Indiana Percussion Association’s Winds State Finals. Winds Scholastic A class will begin competition with Owen Valley Indoor at 6:50pm. Woodlan Winter Winds will perform at 7:08pm. The Awards Ceremony with a Full Retreat will be held at 9:00pm. Please rally around these hard-working students on this last week of the competition season. They have been working incredibly hard since December on this show and have a fantastic performance in store for you!