On Saturday, March 2nd, the Winter Guard had their first NESBA Competition at 4:12 p.m. and got the chance to show off all the hard work they have been doing for the past few months. Their competition took place at Dartmouth High School and they were all eager to perform their show, Inside the Heist. Although they were nervous it was mostly just excitement. After their performance, they got to watch awards where it was announced they ended with second place

out of 6, and a score of 73.35! The scores between second and first were extremely close; only .24 different! They tied in general effect with first place with a score of 29 and were highest overall with the equipment analysis judge! When asked about how the first  performance went Chloe Kruse said, “The crowd was amazing that day so the energy after {the performance} was really positive because you could tell they loved the show.” The winter guard did a great job kicking off the season for the winter programs!

The Oakmont Winter Percussion program went next, also to Dartmouth High School for their first competition with their show, Pure Imagination. The bus ride was lengthy but they tried to keep their energy up as they headed over for their first judging. Their show was not yet finalized but they brought all they had down with them to the competition hoping what they had would be enough to win it! They had 5 groups they would have to beat out to get first.

 When they arrived the weather was not close to ideal and as it poured all of the performers crowded into a tent taking their time to get instruments into the school without getting them too wet. Stress was high and warm-up time was running out. Finally, they raced through the rain and got into their warm-up room with only a few minutes to practice. They only got one run-through of their show and then they were off, in the blink of an eye they were on the gym floor setting up for their first performance. 

Months of work have been preparing for this moment and as soon as it began it felt like it was over. Then as fast as they could they packed up and left going back into the rain. After enjoying watching some other bands it was time for awards, nobody had their hopes up for first place because they knew it was the first show, and having not been able to watch their competitors, they didn’t know what to expect.

Finally, their division was announced and they waited in anticipation to hear where their name fell. Fifth and Fourth places were announced and a sigh of relief was expressed after it wasn’t them, they were in the top three! As soon as second was announced they knew they had done enough to win, they all yelled excitedly as their representatives accepted the first-place medal! They ended up winning with a score of 76.5;  3.2 points more than the second-place competitor which gives them plenty of room to add more to their next show!