The last note reverberates around the stadium. Blue uniforms rise up and down as the band members rapidly catch their breaths. Tap tap tap tap. And they’re off – the last show of their season is over.

The Air Academy Kadet Marching Band won State once again for the 5th year in a row. The band won first place in 4A competitions and swept the caption awards of high visual, high music, and high general effect.

The band kids spent Saturday, October 25, at the Air Force Academy Stadium competing for State. Their first performance was for quarter finals at 10 o’clock, and then again for finals at 7 o’clock in the evening. It was a significantly early performance for the Kadets, who are used to performing much later in the evening. The weather was also the best the weather has been in the past five years of State competitions.

After the performances, the band participated in full retreat (the awards ceremony where all the bands line up on the field for effect). Several of the students on Monday shared stories about the final retreat. Air Academy was lined up next to Liberty. As Liberty’s band director  was walking through the Liberty ranks and telling them to stand still and to not lock their knees, the Liberty kids threw annoyed glances to the Air Academy kids who danced to the drum cadence and who were doing the wave with their plumes (the feathers on top of their heads). Suddenly, Mr. Black came walking through the Air Academy ranks, looking cross, and the Liberty kids thought to themselves the Air Academy kids were “gonna get it.” Then Mr. Black called out, “Who is stopping the plume wave?! If we are going to do it, we’re going to do it right!” The Air Academy kids laughed at the aghast looks on the faces of the Liberty students.

After the final retreat, the band went back to school and then met again to celebrate at Cracker Barrel. The celebrations did not stop even after midnight. We are actually not sure how long the celebrations lasted.

The band had many mixed emotions following the end of their season. Many of the students vented these feelings on Facebook the following day. Students from freshman to senior shared the theme of thankfulness for the band, the people, and the experience. For instance, Claire Landwehr, a senior and one of the section leaders of the clarinet section, wrote an inspiring speech on Facebook about her four years in the band: “So band. I know this is late, but I’ve been trying to process it and figure out how to say this. It’s not that it hasn’t hit me that it’s over. And yes, I’m torn up inside because I can’t do it again. Never again will I find AstroTurf in my shoes, never again will I squish into a bus with 40 of my best friends at 12:30 AM and scream and sing and shiver and sleep the whole way home, never again will I chalk my dots and find the drill and pink dust in the recesses of my backpack, never again will I feel the silence of 161 high school students at once over the roar of the crowd. So why am I so happy? Yes, walking around a field in circles (yeah, Mr. Musick, I ended on the same dot I started on), while playing music and having these crazies throw sticks with fabric on them and wood shaped like guns and watching someone wave their arms so all 161 of us do it at the same time sounds really dumb. Especially considering the sunburns, the bruises, the blood, sweat, and tears, the chapped lips and hoarse voices, the long nights and even earlier mornings where you have to drag yourself out of bed. But I loved it. I loved every second. There was never a single second that I wanted to quit. Because the upperclassmen told me it would be worth it. And I already trusted them not to run me over with their huge scary silver whacking tools, so I trusted them for this. And I can’t thank them enough.”

Gallery • 2 Photos