I was overwhelmed. I stared in awe at the beauty that surrounded me. The rain had lightened up just as my band took the field. The dark night sky was lit by the stadium lights. The beads of water on the crowd and the field glistened. As I marched on to the field at Lackawana County Stadium I realized how hard we had worked to get there. What made the the stadium so beautiful couldn't be seen by the eye but had to be felt by the heart, the fact that that stadium held the hopes and dreams of band students from all over the Atlantic Coast. Regular high school students like me put all their effort into making it there, and then gave more then they ever had to make the ACC performance the best.

My experiences from marching band are the experiences that helped shape my life, and I will always remember them. Throughout the fall every member of the band works hard. We all push ourselves to the limits. Having to play and march at 208 beats a minute is no easy task. The instructors gave us a new slogan, "no excuses". Weather is never a factor to marching bands, we march through rain, wind, and mud, going inside only for lightning.

We all worked for our goal: to go to ACC's (The Atlantic Coast Championship). Only the top 25 ranked bands are invited to compete at ACC's. Our deciding competition was marched on a field of mud. No one could see the yardlines and wseveral shoes were lost to the two inches of mud. We didn't let the condition of the field get to us. We qualified to go to ACC's ranked 12th!

On November 8, 1997 the band walked onto the field to compet at ACC's. It was a thrill just to be there surrounded in such beauty. As soon as I hear "and now welcome to the field of competition, the Westminster High School Owl Marching Band", I knew it was time to focus.

There we were, ready to put on the best 7 and 1/2 minute show ever. Everyone in the band had spent their whole summer working for this. We did great! So good that many members of the band started crying. We came in 5th, more then we ever expected, we had jumped 7 places! Even more important then the score and rank was the fact that we knew we had done our best, and we saw our hard work pay off.

That year of band taught me so much. I learned hard work pays off. I learned self-discipline, making myslef practice and always giving 110%. Most of all I learned that working together can make achieving goals fun. My friends from band and memories from band will always be with me, and no one can take that from me. Marching band helped to shape the person that I am. I wouldn't give up my experience in band for the world. 1

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