WAKEFIELD — It was a history-making weekend for the Wakefield Warrior Marching Band.
At the Bands of America (BOA) New Jersey Regional Championships at Rutgers University, Wakefield placed in the top 12 in the preliminary competition on Saturday afternoon, qualifying for finals for the first time ever at a BOA competition. Their finals performance earned Wakefield 9th place out of the 19 teams from high schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
The team returned home in the early hours of Sunday morning, got some sleep, and returned to the field for the New England Scholastic Band Association (NESBA) Finals at Reading Memorial High School. In their last performance of the competition season, the team earned a platinum medal and a score of 97.3, the highest ever received by the Wakefield Warrior Marching Band in a NESBA competition.
“I could not be more proud of the students. They worked extremely hard all season and had their best performances when it counted the most,” said Director of Visual and Performing Arts Thomas Bankert, who directs the band. “The future is bright for the Warrior Marching Band.”
The previous weekend, Wakefield competed in the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) Finals in Quincy, earning five stars for music, percussion, color guard, general effect, and overall performance.
This year’s show, Dreamland, includes a trumpet solo by Caroline Dill, a baritone solo by Lauren Fitzgerald, a vocal quartet featuring Nadia Collins, Paige MacGibbon, Hailey Allocco, and Owen Kelley, and a brass quartet made up of Lilah Hatheway, Sara Pudvah, Dill, and Fitzgerald. Color guard captains are Meghan DeCourcy, Anisa Koni, and Isabella Schwartzberg.
“I am extremely happy with how the band performed at not just finals, but throughout the whole season,” said drum major Max MacDonald. “We have grown so much since band camp in August, and I could not be more proud of everyone involved.”
The Warrior Marching Band is scheduled to perform their show during half-time at the football game this Friday at Landrigan field at Wakefield High School.