By Akilah Bell, Special to the AFRO
After months of hard work, practice, sweat, and dedication, the Poly-Western Marching Band from Baltimore traveled to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta this week.
A band filled with some of Baltimore City’s best and brightest will perform in a parade, a field show competition, and a mass band performance before the game. This trip will help broaden the student’s horizons because most have not traveled beyond the state of Virginia. It is also the first overnight trip the band has experienced.
Jerome Queen, director of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, is a Morgan State University alum. Indya Hairston, band director for Western High School, is a third generation alumnae of the school and a proud graduate of Hampton University. While most students joined the marching band last year and continuously put in the extra work to become phenomenal, the students are filled with excitement at the chance to travel and represent Baltimore City.
“I’m excited,” said Queen. “This is the band’s first time going somewhere this far in over 20 years. It’s an exciting time for the students.”
Roughly 41 students were on the bus headed to the Peach Bowl when the AFRO spoke with Queen on Dec. 28 about preparation for the event and how the experience will grow his students as scholars and well-rounded human beings.
“We had to work on music selections that the representatives for the Peach Bowl sent to us. We spent a lot of time rehearsing that music, in addition to marching field performances that we will do in Atlanta as well,” Queen told the AFRO.
“Band is an outlet for a lot of students that they may not have in other ways,” he continued. “There are a lot of things that they could be doing but instead they come to band rehearsal every day- three, four sometimes five days a week. It means the world to them that someone gets to see them playing your instruments.”
Skylar Thomas, a trombone player in the 12 grade, joined the marching band last year.
“I like playing my instrument,” said Thomas. “Band is fun. I’m looking forward to performing in front of a lot of people. When I step out on the field I feel a little nervous and a little excited at the same time.”
Asia Fowlkes plays the trumpet for the Poly-Western Marching Band as a senior.
“I’ve never been out of the DMV (D.C., Maryland and Virginia) area,” she said. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve been wanting to go to other places but this is the first step for me. I hope to meet people from other bands, hear about their experiences and see how professional parades and shows operate.”
Fowlkes said the experience has pushed her to greater heights.
“Its definitely taking me outside of my comfort zone,” she said. “I’ve never performed for this amount of people. It was challenging because we had to memorize songs that we don’t normally play. It’s helping with my confidence and determination.”
The Poly-Western Marching Flock is continuing to raise money through a GoFundMe, to donate visit https://gofund.me/b9f55e0c
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