I am involved in many activities at my high school. One of these activities is the marching band. I am a drum major, which is one of the band leaders. Today I’m here to tell you all about how much I love this activity.

During the blazing heat of summer is when my band practices begin and we meet once a week in July so we can be ready for band camp in August. which is when we have band camp. At my school, we travel a couple of hours north to a sleepaway camp and attend camp for one week. Throughout band camp, we run through our music for our shows and practice our drills, which is where everyone is put out on the field. Most of the band camp focuses on the drill because once that is down, we can start adding visuals and music to complete the show. After a long exhausting week, our band season officially begins. 

Practices are 3 hours long on Tuesdays and Thursdays followed by Friday night football games and all-day competitions either on a Saturday or Sunday. A standard marching band week can last about 20 hours roughly and can be tiring, yet we all push through it. 

Our current 2019 season has just come to a close, and our marching band director told us that we put in about 200+ hours on just practice alone. The insane amount of time we have spent together as a team has helped me develop close bonds and friendships with people I would’ve never talked to if not for the marching band. Unlike many activities and sports that split students up often based on age or experience, new freshmen join the rest of the team as equals and have to catch up to the seniors that have almost been marching for 4 years now!

I believe that this activity is unique in its ability to help students develop close relationships with their teammates, especially because it utilizes such unique skills compared to other activities in my high school. The sense of community that the marching band has given me is similar to the feeling I get whenever I go to a BBYO event. Growing up in a small town, I did not have many Jewish friends, so when I joined BBYO I did not realize how many people were just like me. BBYO and marching band both have given me homes and a place to learn from. They have helped me grow and meet many wonderful people to call friends. Without an organization like BBYO and an activity like a marching band, I would not be who I am today.