As a senior looking back, I’ve spent the last three years following the philosophy that if I can do it, I will. By following this, I knew that eventually one thing would stick and while many of the clubs or teams I joined, I am still a part of today, the one that I enjoyed most was color-guard.

The way that the marching band creates art using sounds and shapes through formations, color-guard creates through dance and equipment. Through the combination of dance, flags, rifles and sabers we create a tangible idea of how the music feels.

I originally joined because I did marching band my freshman and sophomore year, but because of friends I had in guard, I was encouraged to join during the winter season of my sophomore year to participate in Winter-guard.

From November to April, we were working on a four minute show to perform at competitions and eventually the world championships in Dayton, Ohio. As someone who enjoyed music but also dancing and performing, I enjoyed every bit of it and ultimately let me to switch from saxophone to color-guard in the fall during marching band season and come back again for the winter season.

While I’ve enjoyed just being a member and performing, my favorite part has been getting to do it with my friends. Color-guard is comprised of many different people with different abilities and talents. Getting to travel across the country with the team has resulted in some of my fondest memories.

Whether it was finding out the tarp was backwards mid-performance and still having to perform or changing choreography and struggling with it, there have been so many lessons I have learned through color guard.

Colorguard is open to all different people and whether you already perform or want to learn how, people are always welcome to join.