Last weekend, the campus color guard team competed in their first show of the season at Clovis East High School, Jan. 27. As the only 7-12 grade team, they placed third out of nine schools in the Regional A Bronze category.
The circuit they perform in is The San Joaquin Valley Color Guard & Percussion Review (SJVCGPR), one of California’s oldest competitive circuits in the areas of Color guard, Marching Percussion and Concert Percussion ensembles, with the inception in 1982.
Sanger HS took first place while Hoover HS finished second. Other schools in the competition included Sunnyside HS, Madera South, Firebaugh HS, Roosevelt HS and Chowchilla HS.
Instrumental music teacher Lesley Bannister displays pride in the team placing against larger high schools. She anticipates the improvements made by the end of the school year.
“I am so proud of our team,” Bannister said. “They have been putting in long hours and working hard to learn this routine. For us to be able to win 3rd place going up against these huge schools is a huge accomplishment. We are really pushing the students this year with new techniques and more challenging work. They are really rising to the challenge and I can’t wait to see where they go this season.”
Sophomore Brittany McCann is a veteran on the team. She hopes to bring the newer members of the team to the same level.
“The competition went really well,“ McCann said. “We placed third out of nine schools. We’re trying to bring our newer recruits up to the same level as the rest of us are. Most of us have about three to four years of experience. We’re trying to get them up to the same level, make our show more dynamic and add in more characteristics.”
Color guard’s next competition is at Clovis North High School, Feb. 9. Go out and represent the school by supporting the campus color guard team.
For more related articles, read Color guard team prepares for competition season. For more articles, check out EDITORIAL: California on the edge of another drought.
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