On Mar. 29, 2015 and Apr. 4, 2015, Malden High School’s winter color guard team won consecutive competitions and brought back the gold for the school. The winter guard team pushed their way through many competitions, making their way to the finals.
Color guard is defined as a uniformed group who parade “with the spinning of a flag, rifle, or sabre associated with marching bands and drum corps.” However, this school’s team has made it so much more. The team has practiced day after day for hours in order to achieve the wins that they have scored recently. Although the work has been tiring, the teammates still state that they do not want the season to end. Even though the practices are tough and the effort is maddening, the team still expressed they will especially “miss practicing, hanging out and just being with [each other],” as stated by senior captain Jasmine Kelly.
Kelly experienced her last meet at the finals on Apr. 4, 2015. While the event was sad and something no one wanted to let go of, Kelly stated that she “really just thought about having fun and enjoying the time on the floor spinning with the girls that [she has] been with for a long time.” Kelly described the team as her “second family”, and the “sweetest people [she] could have ever met.”
Altogether, the team aimed to make a mark upon the audience. They achieved that goal by winning first place. “[Kelly] thinks … most [about] making sure that the audience is having fun.” She focuses “on bringing life to the show in a way that the audience can interpret and enjoy.” The MHS Winterguard has definitely made an impact on their audiences this season, drawing cheers from the crowd after every competition.
The Winterguard had trouble at the beginning of the season with having only six returning performers, a tough case to form a show around. However, as the team worked to get some instructors and new members for the team, they solved the oncoming issue, though it had been a very late start to the season. The team did not let the issue set them back, and they fought to get back to where they would be if they started on time. In finality, the team went above and beyond what was expected of them, despite experiencing their biggest challenge of the entire season from the start.
