On May 11th, 2023 the seniors took their final bow during their last band concert at Kearsley High School.

That night, our school’s two main bands: Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble performed along with our school’s Jazz Band, all directed by Ms. Phelps.

The Symphonic Band consists of 9-12th graders and our Wind Ensemble is 10th-11th graders, while our Jazz Band consists of a mix of middle schoolers and all high schoolers.

This year, the band’s percussion ensemble has performed at a couple of the concerts.

At the final concert Lane Sirois, a team leader of the percussion section, conducted the percussion ensemble.

The percussion ensemble consists of 9th-12th graders.

At the concert, percussion ensemble played the songs “Saber Dance” and “Pig Step.”

Afterwards our school’s Symphonic Band played the songs “Knights of Destiny,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” and ended with the song “Mallet Maniacs.”

The Jazz Band performed “Big Swing Face” and “Fiesta Del Tigre.”

Finally, Wind Ensemble performed “Pageantry Overture,” “Blue Ridge Saga,” and “Mulan.”

At the end of the night, both the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble got together to perform “Remember Me,” as a little final touch to that night’s concert.

In between songs the seniors one at a time got up between songs and shared their favorite memories and passed on gifts to the underclassmen.

Senior Zaeda Swinger gave away a rubber band ball to junior Steven Gray, and a dot book to sophomore Tristan Payea-Stevens.

Zaeda Swinger also shared a very funny memory.

“One time during band camp I found this stick. I named it my discipline stick and I may or may not have hit Ethan with it a few times, but were not going to talk about that,” said Swinger.

A lot of seniors had many emotions about their final concert.

Senior Ethan Karram was one of them.

“[I feel] excitement, joy, and a little bit of a sadness. A lot of mixed feelings, honestly,” stated Karram.

A lot of the seniors took time to reflect on what they would change in the last few years of band, a lot of them said they would go back in time and try harder, but one answer really stood out to me.

Senior Thomas Brewer-Brown took the answer in a different direction and shared how he felt about band.

“I wouldn’t change anything. I really enjoyed my time here in band,” stated Brewer-Brown.

The band did great at the concert that night and they really showed they have very strong trust and unity among them.

As the school year comes to a close, remember to hold onto the memories of your school days and really make the most of it when you have time.