Freshman Zidian Walker has many things to balance in her schedule with many different activities like Knight Pride, Mac Scholars and others. But out of all the activities, marching band is what stands out to her.
Marching band is what sparks interest. Marching band is her specialty.
Walker is involved in the marching band at FHN where she plays percussion. She has rehearsal three times a week. Although to many that sounds like a lot, Walker is very satisfied with what she does and has a great community that she enjoys and loves to have around.
“It’s a community,” Walker said. “Like it doesn’t really matter what section you’re in, everybody’s kind of friends with everybody, and if you’re not buddy-buddy with everyone, you can still be chill with each other. Like it’s just a little bubble with family.”
Her community is very fond of each other, especially another teammate in the marching band: Sophia Lumetta. She is inspired by Walker and loves her company. She describes her as being a very devoted and protective person who, even under so much pressure, can stay on tempo.
“I think what’s most inspiring about her is just her devotion to people,” Lumetta said. “She’s very protective of people’s feelings. If they’re hurt, she’ll do anything in her power to make them feel better.”
Walker got into marching band after partaking in a three-week band camp over the summer that she really enjoyed and made her want to do marching band.
“I started liking marching band, like halfway through band camp over the summer,” Walker said. “We had to go in for like three weeks, and I was kind of not all the way into it, until I realized that, ‘hey, this is kind of cool, and everybody’s pretty chill here.’”
Walker finds lack of sleep and rehearsals the hardest part of it all. She has a bunch of school activities besides marching band and is also part of the pit in marching band which is the front ensemble that requires a lot of time and work leaving little time for other things she needs to get done.
“They last three or more hours,” Walker said. “Even more for Pit, because we have to load our stuff up so it’s a small time to do homework, and sleep is sacrificed.”
Even though things can be tough for Walker she continues to persevere and have fun in band. In the process of this, she learns a lot from it revolving around playing percussion, but it’s not just band-related things. She also learns things to use in life in general.
“I’ve learned a lot of time management and learning how to choose things,” Walker said.
Overall, Walker’s friends describe her as a very talented, nice, and devoted person. Whether that’s to her friends, her school work, or her marching band. Walker’s personality throughout it all is very admirable which is something people can be influenced or inspired by. By trying to follow that type of mindset.
“She’s devoted to things that she’s committed to,” Lumetta said. “Like school and marching band. I think she’s very committed and devoted to friends and tries to talk to all her friends and hang out. So her personality is very devoted.”
