WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — The first stop on our “Hearts of Champions” tour takes us to Wheat Ridge High School in Jefferson County.
The ‘Farmer Pride’ marching band is trying to restore their glory days this year after not competing for a score last year during the Colorado Bandmaster’s Association’s competitive season. This 4A marching band has about 35 members and Band Director Kendra Graf said she’s happy to see the band growing.
"We used to have a competitive marching band about 15 years ago, I think maybe 10, but it’s been quite a while so we’re bringing it back,” Graf said. “Back in 2019, it was about 40 students and then when the pandemic hit, it went down to about 18, we just had a lot of students who weren’t able to participate and then we’ve been slowly building up since then.”
Drum major Taylor Bills was in 9th grade that year entering her first year of marching band. She said that year was rough.
“My freshman year was not too good because of COVID, and we started as the ‘COVID freshmen’,” Bills said. “I remember doing zoom classes and practicing.”
Bills is now a senior in high school and said these days the marching band is a place where she feels at home.
“Sometimes, communities are hostile and the communities that I’m in are kind of iffy with that,” Bills said. “I’d say that this community is definitely my main community and I’m very happy to be here.”
Bills and the group of marching members were getting ready for their upcoming competitive season during their summer band camp in early August. The show they’re performing this year tells the story of a band of sailors who get caught by a Siren and are trying to make it back home.
“It’s pretty difficult when you’re trying to get a very good visual across to story tell,” Bills said. “You have to make it happen…you have to execute it correctly so that way it can tell the story.”
It’s an opportunity they didn’t have last year, and Graf said her band members are focused on writing a new chapter.
“Last year, we just marched for exhibition because it was our very first year out at competitions and I wanted to give the kids an experience of what it was going to be like before they had that pressure on them,” Graf said. “This year, we’re going for ratings and rankings… we’ll find out our scores and be ranked along with the other bands.”
It’s a rebuilding story that Bills and her classmates are proud to be part of and no matter how it ends this year, they know there’s no place like home.
“We are family,” Bills said. “We take care of each other, we help each other, which is a bond that I really value.”
“I think so much of it is providing that place where the students love what they’re doing,” added Graf. “They feel safe, or they feel comfortable, and they just really find they’re place where they belong, and I think that’s amazing.”
> Video below: Watch the Wheat Ridge High School marching band perform in the 2022 season:
Editor's note: This story is part of 9NEWS' "Hearts of Champions: Marching across Colorado" series, where we're highlighting marching bands across the state. Watch our full stories Friday mornings through the middle of September. Share your photos and memories with us using #Bandon9.
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