The high school band played at the Homecoming game this year for the first time since 2019. The Homecoming festivities took place Sept. 17 of this year, and the band performed in all three events, the pep rally, the parade, and the game. For many players, it was their first time performing at Homecoming. For Band Director Daniel Eaton, it was his first time with the band. 

“It was exciting,” Eaton says. “Getting out on the football field for the first home game.” 

The band performed in the three events of Homecoming. The pep rally was the first of the day, where they started off the event. At the parade, they marched, leading the rest of the floats. At the game, they played a drumroll at the kickoff, and played our school song, Columbia Blue and White, at every touchdown. At halftime, they were joined by the twirl team for their rendition of Thriller by Michael Jackson. 

“I really like playing at games,” says Sophomore Emerald Melander. “It’s good, being able to do performances with the whole band.”

Melander and her classmates could be seen dancing and playing on the north side of the field the whole night, bringing an excited energy to the spectators.

The band played all around Superior on Homecoming day. They first played in the High School Gym for the pep rally, then moved to the middle school for the start of the parade route. They walked along the entire route, playing and marching the entire time. After a break in between the parade and the game, they started up again with the National Anthem.

“Marching hurts, but it’s fun,” Senior Phoebe Pilon says. 

For many of the members, this was their first time marching or playing at football games, as this year’s sophomores didn’t get the chance to play last year as freshmen. Pilon says she was somewhat concerned at first, but that they performed “especially well,” considering their relative lack of experience. 

“It’s like we have two years of freshmen to train,” Pilon says, “but all things considered, it’s going pretty good.”

Melander was one of the sophomore students who had never played at a football game before. 

“It’s a good time to hang out with people in my class,” she says.

 Getting to play and participate was exciting for these students, who had never experienced the sort of ‘rite of passage’ of being in the band. 

“It’s fun,” Melander says. “It’s really fun, and awesome.” 

Eaton is hopeful that the current group of freshmen and sophomores will stick with band. 

“They’re the future of the band,” Eaton says. 

Eaton talks about having to move the underclassmen forward in order to make up for last year. Eaton says that, since the start of the year, band has been going fast and non-stop. 

“We’re going, and we’re going to keep running and running,” Eaton says.

Following this, the pep band will continue to play at hockey, football, and basketball games. They will also play at the Christmas City of the North Parade, and for the first time, they will have their own holiday concert. Last year, the band lost almost a third of their players. Regarding this, Eaton says he is reaching out to students who had previously played in the band, extending the invitation to come back. While the band is growing back, they are going to continue to play all of the events they normally would.

“We’re moving forward with who we have and what we have,” Eaton says. “They’re a resilient group of kids. The team is moving forward.”