FHN’s winter guard spins their way into the Winter Guard International (WGI) Regional in Kansas City, MO. The event is on Feb. 13 with finals at around 10 p.m. They will be performing their show “Together Alone,” to the song “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.

“[My feelings about the upcoming WGI Kansas city regional are] very good,” winter guard director Duane Williams said. “We’re well prepared, got very good feedback from the judges thus far so we’ll see what happens.”

The winter guard has been practicing hard to perform at their best ability at the WGI Kansas City Regional. However, even though they may be ready for the WGI competition, the team sees the WGI competitions differently from regular competitions.

“I think the kids think WGI is a little bit more important and more competitive,” guard mom Sarah McCorkle-Smith said. “We get to see more competition because there’s not that many in our class in the MCCGA, which is the Mid-Continent Color Guard Association, so WGI is a bigger deal.”

Smith helps out with the guard as a guard mom. She plans ahead of time of for competitions and events by making hotel reservations and going to every competition to make sure that everything goes smoothly. With Smith’s help, the guard can focus more on practicing and being prepared for the WGI regional.

“I’m really excited [for the upcoming WGI Kansas City Regional] because we heard good feedback from our judges from our first competition, and I know that we’re going to have our camp next week, and so we’re going to be a lot better by then and hopefully we’ll have a good show,” winter guard member Elizabeth Jansen said.

The winter guard team is working hard to make it into the WGI nationals in Dayton, Ohio. Guards nationwide will be competing to earn the title of best guard in the nation. The winter guard if FHN is striving for top five at nationals, and hope to make this one of their best shows yet.

“This year is definitely more hard [than other years]. It takes more skill and it’s more fast-paced. Usually, FHN uses slow music or sad music and this year it’s very fast and intense,” winter guard member Christian Witte said.