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The McCallum marching band competed in the regional championship, Bands of America, on Sep. 23. The color guard toted flags bearing the Campbell soup can, as well as modeled vibrant, neon make-up; “artPOP” is McCallum’s show theme this year.
“What was it like?” freshman Nick Reedy said. “Extremely sweaty.”
Although many members of the band agreed that they got off to a rough start and although the heat and humidity may have been unpleasant, Reedy and his fellow musicians left the field pleased with their performance.
“I think that everyone showing up to rehearsal and trying hard is something that the band always does well and makes our concerts look and sound great.”
Band director Carol Nelson, described the performance as “strong”, even though they had to compensate for missing three trombone players. Junior John Forbes on the drum line also felt the band performed very well,
“Once the trombone choir came in, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there,” Forbes said.
Sophomore Daniela Aranda said that beyond the performance, the experience solidified the sense of community that she feels in the band.
“It’s just such a nice feeling when you look around and you see that everyone is together and it’s [all] teamwork,” Aranda said. “It’s good to be a part of a group, and we embrace it.”
They played “On the Great Divide”, “Wild Nights”, and “Short Ride in a Fast Machine”, all by John Adams, and “Planetarium” by Justin Hurwitz.
After its performance, the band posed for a series of group pictures. After the serious pictures, the band broke out into funny poses for a final silly photo.
The band finished in the middle of the pack of 27 of the top marching bands in the region. The competition that was stocked with large and competitive 6A bands.
Before they found out how they had placed, the band directors had already declined eligibility for the finals out of consideration for their students’ time and well-being.
Photos by Kelsey Tasch and Bella Russo. Video by Sarah Tasch.
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISDs week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the schools LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think Its nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think its just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that theyre often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-1200x676.jpg)
![FIVE-STAR CAPTAIN: In One Night Only, the opening number of the spring show on Saturday night, Blue Brigade captain Charli Cevallos is front and center setting the mood and tempo for the number and entire show. Cevallos said the opening number of the spring show is always upbeat and fun and this year’s edition was no exception. Cevallos said she remembers the moment as one of pure adrenaline. “Since opener is the first dance, the excitement is running high and it’s such a great feeling to be performing our hard work for an audience.” As the photo suggests, the team was able to perform the number in sync even though it was a new dance choreographed exclusively for the spring show by first lieutenant Annabel Winter (left) and senior lieutenant Emily Garza. “Opener was our first spring show dance we learned,” Cevallos said, “and it came together super well. … [It was] definitely a team favorite.” Cevallos said her favorite part of the number was the very beginning when Winter (left) woke her up stage left from a deep sleep to start the show. “It’s so fun,” she said, “and the audience loved it.” For the first time in three years, that audience was in the MAC and at full capacity without pandemic restrictions.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/dsc04748_52025488192_o-900x600.jpg)
Sydney G. • Mar 2, 2018 at 11:07 am
The whole band and color guard worked really hard on their marching show and I think it is really cool that I got to be apart of this and that not only did we have a good show, but that the seniors and the freshman got to spend their first and last years in high school doing this show and making it to state.