most students when they start band.

It's learning how to play an instrument, learning how to play together inside and to strip away those walls, spread everybody way out on the field, and put them in front of, you know, maybe a crowd of 30,000 people on a game day.

a huge leap forward.

like that.

That was excellent, right?

If you do that, then we lose I've been at CSU now.

This is my fourth year.

I started in fall of 2021. when I came in the the entire marching band, numbered about 170, is a very, very small group.

and it was a group that didn't remember how to march it was a lot of reteaching things that first year, here we go.

From the beginning, please.

Horns will already be up because we've just marched out of the field and, done the halt.

Kids.

We rehearse six hours a week.

That's three rehearsals for two hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday, which is, just enough for us to be able to learn what we need to, to do, this season with seven home games, it'll be seven different halftime shows that we'll have learned by the end of the year.

you don't.

managing my time is definitely a challenge.

I have to put everything in my calendar.

If I don't have it in my calendar, I will forget to do it.

So I block out time for literally everything.

by the end of the semester, I'm definitely tired.

But, to me, marching is worth it.

when I'm conducting the group, I'm trying to keep time.

So I'm listening to the drumline, listening to the winds and making sure that we're lining up and just kind of keeping the band on track.

a few years ago, I would have been shocked to hear that I was getting up and conducting in front of a group of 250 people.

But, at this point, being a fourth year member in the band, like, I just feel so connected to everybody in the band I can be myself and I can goof around and I can have a fun time while also getting things done.

And it's just been a really good avenue for me to grow as a leader, I'll be honest, games are way more fun when you have, 200 of your best friends surrounding you.

We're always vibing with each other, dancing the music in the stadium, joking around, in comparison, the student section honestly looks kind of dead.

if you walk into any college band in the country, you're going to immediately feel a sense of that group's community.

It's not it's not a bunch of individuals out on the field.

It's a trumpet section and a flute section and a drumline section.

And they're all working together as a collective whole, to, really bring game day to life, when it's all said and done, how many tunes did we play?

How many shows that we marched?

None of that's going to matter to me as much as.

Did they have a good time?

Did they make some good friends?

and they make some lasting memories.

And if they if all those things happen, that's that's a win in my book.