Because of our success in the fall and the high level of interest, Mrs. Fudge has decided to continue our program through the spring with winter guard. Returning from the Color Guard 2003 season was eighth graders; Brooke, Shela, and Tiffany. Sophomores; Staci, Tegan, Brooke, and Julia. Juniors; Erika and Meagan. And Senior Jackie. Also joining the guard for the spring season is sophomores; Jessi, Jerrica, and Nikki.
Mrs. Fudge called her old friend Marty Adamson, DCI World Champion Guard Soloist of 1996 and now a professional choreographer from Houston, Texas, who has a lot of experience with winter guards. Mrs. Fudge taught Marty how to spin a flag in college, and he returned the favor by designing our entire show, from selecting the song to designing our backdrops and uniforms, and to creating some of the major sections of work in the show. We each raised the money individually to pay for his hard work and fly him to Mountain View. Marty is a wonderful person and we are very thankful to him for all of his help!
Now that we had a show in mind, we needed a special winter guard floor to be able to compete in the local circuit. Nancy Cooper helped us out a lot by asking All-Star Paving in Willow Springs to donate the money for it. Once we had received our floor, we asked for sponsorship from local businesses such as WM. Dale Young and Sons, Little Pine Creek Woodwork, Mountain View Lumber, Mountain View Auto Parts, Richard�s Brothers Farm Store, and Robert�s Wood Products, to purchase our uniforms, the supplies to make our backdrops, five new rifles, and one set of new flags. The school purchased our second set of flags and we borrowed goggles from the school�s lab as the finishing touch on our uniforms.
After a month of grueling practices insisted upon by Mrs. Fudge, we competed in our first show. We placed first in our class and bumped from the lowest class, Regional C, to the next class, Regional B. In Regional B we have been competing against much larger guards from much larger schools such as Joplin, Marion, Blue Springs, Glendale, and thirteen other guards, and still ranking in the top three of our class. This weekend we will be competing in Kickapoo. Our score at this competition will determine the time we perform at championships in Springfield on March 27th.
We believe that the talent and drive of the girls backed by the support of our school and community will prevail through it all, because we put our whole hearts into every performance. By working and relaxing together, the guard has grown and learned together through good times and bad. We have also learned that it takes hard work and dedication to excel in life. The burgeoning guard program has allowed us all to have a place to do what we love while being accepted by a group of tight-knit friends.
