After months of awaiting the day of celebration, I packed my dance bag with gloves, makeup and the confidence I had developed after three seasons in the SCHS colorguard. It was Saturday, Oct. 28, and I was finally a senior getting ready for my last football game.
That morning, I drove to pick up my best friend, and teammate, Eudora Woldesilassie. We stuffed my car full of posters and gift baskets for our cheerleader friends before heading to school.
After we arrived in the school’s band room, the other seniors and I quickly changed into our piercing blue uniforms for our field show “Atlantis.” I watched as each senior, with instrument or flag in hand, lined up for the photographer, Tom Chivers, to snap one of their last pregame smiles.
Chivers was the same photographer we had known since our first season of marching. He had watched us grow up as teenage musicians and performers, witnessing our first flat musical note or equipment drop onto the field. I blinked as a smile grew across my face and the bright flash of his camera captured a photo of my rifle and I.
After each band member had taken photos, we all traveled to the back field to warm up before the seniors migrated to the Bruin snack shack to line up with their families, awaiting the ceremony. I was immediately struck with the scent of flower bouquets and fresh sharpies from my family’s homemade posters. Woldesilassie and I soon spotted our cheerleader friends, and we ran to tackle them in a hug with their posters and presents before our parents’ cameras were shoved in our faces for more photos. I beamed as I wrapped my arms around my friends’ letterman jackets, not only proud of their season, but mine as well.
My name was soon called to line up on the track with my family. As my parents, sister and I walked past the bleachers filled with cheering students and families, I faintly heard my bio, written a week before, graciously thanking my best friends, parents and favorite band alumni, my older brother. I thanked Vice Principal Sharon Freeman while she handed me a bouquet of flowers and said through a grin, “Congratulations!”
After the senior ceremony, the color guard continued to practice on the back field before walking over in the last minute of the second quarter for our halftime performance. Before halftime, I have always been incredibly nervous before football games. My breath is often caught in my throat before even stepping onto the field. The crowd of students never seems to quiet down once the band starts playing, but the color guard just dances and spins through it.
As I set down my equipment and whispered a good luck charm to Woldesilassie, I took my position on the 40 yard line and waited for the first note. As I counted, spun and traveled throughout the field for six minutes, I felt the eyes of the student section on me, as always. Only this time, it was the last time. As the closing movement of our show finished, I aimed my eyes toward the top of the bleachers where I had always directed them for the past two seasons and smiled for my last game.
Before heading back to the band room to peel off my sweaty uniform, I heard Woldesilassie call my name and turned to see her followed by our two other friends holding bouquets with smiles fused to their faces. My eyes twinkled as they asked to take a picture, feeling so happy someone was recognizing our dedication to marching band. Back in the band room, the seniors slapped our arms around each other to seize one last picture with our band director.
At the end of the day, with our arms filled with bouquets and posters, Woldesilassie and I laughed as we crawled to my car. Glancing at the football field as we drove past, I let out a sigh, saying goodbye to my last game, grateful for every one in the past.
In the last three years, my smiles, sweat and tears have proudly come from the field in which I have found my family, the SCHS marching band. Within the colorguard team, I have grown tremendously, tossing my flag, twirling around band members and leading my team to perform, and I could not be more proud.