It's hard to believe the marching band season is over. The past couple of months have been full of weekends with either Friday football game performances or competitions. The past two weekends have been the biggest competitions. Last weekend was States at Ford Field in Detroit. PCEP, being the closest high school to Ford Field and with a strong band program, always provides the parent volunteers to run the whole event. From bus greeters to band guides and even members of the hospitality crew to provide refreshments to the judges and band directors, we do it all and then get a lot of the proceeds from the event as one of our major fundraisers. My friend was the volunteer in charge of the volunteers from PCEP and somehow she convinced me to assist her with that. We had to be there from 5:15 am to 11pm. Luckily, I was able to go home an hour and a half early because our volunteers had all showed up for their shifts to the very end and I wasn't needed to train and cover for those who didn't show. I was tired but fulfilled and best of all, I got to hear band music all day! PCEP's flight (band level) was in the first section this year, so they also had a very early morning, though they got to go home by noon, whereas the parents who were volunteering still had to stay! They ranked 5th in the state for their flight. It wasn't a great placement, we thought they would do better, especially since they were scheduled for Nationals the next weekend.
For the next few days, they practiced very hard. They had to leave for Nationals in Indianapolis on Wednesday evening. Their preliminary performance was on Thursday. There were 100 bands there from around the nation. I had scheduled a hotel there for Friday and Saturday nights for myself, with the hopes that they would make at least the semi-finals, which they have made every single year. They're the only band that has made the semi-finals every year since attending Nationals.
I arrived just in time to see the awards ceremony. Out of the 100 schools, 30 were chosen to be in the semis. They were announced in no certain order, and guess who was announced 30th? Yes, PCEP. We had to wait through 29 excruciating announcements of bands until they finally announced Plymouth Canton Educational Park. We were sweating bullets!
They were to compete at 8:30 am the next morning and the announcements on Friday night ended late, so we had to get to bed quickly! Kai had some intense knee pain during some of the practices leading up, especially on Friday. They had to give her lots of painkillers and she even had to use crutches to stay off it for a while. At one that morning she suffered from some food poisoning, she thinks, but somehow was able to get up at 4:30 and then was on the field by 8:30, ready to perform. They did amazing!
While they were unwinding at their hotel, I was enjoying watching all the other bands. There is some fantastic talent in the marching band world. I was blown away! American Fork High School was there, a couple schools from Florida and the south, a few from Texas and Oklahoma, and a bunch from the midwest. Two schools from Michigan.
When the semis were over, I knew we probably wouldn't make finals, and we didn't, but I was still so proud of PCEP and all the time and effort put into their performance. Theirs was more of a storyline than other school's performances, but I loved it! The schools that went to the finals were the top 12 of the 30. They didn't announce what we placed after those 12 were announced. We were happy to have gone as far as we did.
I loved visiting Indianapolis! A canal runs right through the city; my room was right next to it! I enjoyed walking back and forth from the stadium to my hotel on the canal and through other parts of the city. It snowed all day on Saturday, so that made everything more magical! A thing to note is the Lucas Oil Stadium is indoors, so we didn't sit in the freezing cold.
I can't wait until next year. I will bring Jason and the boys, now that I know what to expect. Lots of money, lots of walking, lots of bands, but all so worth it!
Great job, Kai!!!
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