By: Tyler Garling

Fall is the peak of the marching season for the Marching Huskies since they have to prepare for their upcoming performances at competitions.The Marching Huskies, under the direction of Katie Newmiller, will spend the rest of their season perfecting their show “Native,” which features music from the 1992 film, Last of the Mohicans.  With a competition coming up soon, many members of the band are about to experience exactly what marching band is all about.

Drum Major Lauren Choinski is entering her fourth year of marching band. Choinski, a senior, has noticed many changes in the band since last year. “I think it’s more student run than usual. We’re working a little bit harder than last year,” she said.

The Marching Huskies started their summer band camp in August and have made tremendous progress since they first started learning the show. “So far, we’ve come a long way.  Every day we progress a little bit,” said Choinski.

Nick Striegal, a freshman and one of the percussionists, is ready to face the challenges of the season. “[So far] it’s been pretty tough. We’ve been going through exercises, but it all ends up being worth it,” said Striegal.

The Marching Huskies undergo exercises during practice so that they have enough energy and stamina to make it through multiple runs of the show. They usually run laps around the school to improve their endurance. Nothing could be worse than the band passing out during their performance at the competition!

“It’s our first competition so we’ve been practicing a lot,” explained Striegal. “The show is outstanding, especially when everyone is playing together at once.”

Another newcomer, freshman Matt Almond, also believes that the Marching Huskies will do well throughout the season. He plays clarinet and decided to join marching band because many of his friends said that it is a fun experience.“I think it’s been pretty fun lately, and I’m looking forward to our first competition,” Almond said.

Since it’s Almond’s first year in marching band, he’s had the challenge of learning the basics of marching band, like marching in step with the rest of the band and memorizing all the music, but he’s made plenty of improvements. “Considering [that] when I started I knew pretty much nothing about marching band, I’ve progressed a lot,”  he said.

Sophomore Vanessa Wilkinson is entering her second year of marching band. She is a trumpet player and is very confident ahead of the first competition. “We’ve been making a lot of improvements since our first game, which is good, and we’ll keep on improving,” said Vanessa. “Last year was a lot less organized. This year we have better marching; we have more people who care about the program.”

Though many think marching band is simple, it requires a lot of effort and can’t be taken lightly. Even though it’s a lot of work, every member puts forth the effort for the band to be successful. The band, like Wilkinson, has gotten better at playing and marching. With everyone getting better at what they do, there’s no doubt that the Marching Huskies will have success, not only at their first competition, but throughout the rest of the season.

The Huskies’ first competition was on September 29th at Herndon High School, and their next competition was on October 6th at Loudoun Valley High School. Good luck during the rest of the season, Huskies! Check out the Husky Headline for the Marching Huskies’ results!