Winter percussion hit their goals of going to the finals and coming back with seventh place at the Franklin Community High School for the Winter Guard International prelims and state competitions on March 2 and 3. It is where winds, percussion and guard come to compete nationally.
Senior Samari Wilson plays the marimba, an instrument that is built like a piano but bigger and played on with mallets instead of just hands. She is in her final year playing in the band at Warren.
Wilson’s goal was to get fourth place at the competition, but she is still grateful for their spot in seventh place worldwide.
"I feel good because this is the first time we went to WGI in the past 10 years,” Wilson said.
For some people, this was their first competition, and getting seventh place was a huge achievement.
Ryder Shepard, a sophomore, has taken on this competition with his companions in winter percussion. He is really proud of them and what they have done.
“It’s a huge accomplishment no matter what place we got,” he said.
While these students are proud of themselves, their teacher AnneMarie Kelly is even more proud. She feels like her students did a wonderful job considering that this was their first competition.
“I am most proud of the students performing their hearts out and showing the nation that Warren Central has the highest standard of excellence,” Kelly said.
Kelly is the assistant director in Warren Central band and also the director of percussion. Kelly’s goal is to keep the streak for Warren's past competitions. She feels like they brought that to the table for WGI.
“The Warren Central High School Winter Percussion Ensemble has been working incredibly hard the past two years that I have been here,” she said.
The group placed fifth at their state competition last year, the highest they have placed in that class in school history, according to Kelly.
“This year, we only have improved our craft and pushed to continue to break school history and achieve a higher standard of excellence,” she said. “The students are extremely dedicated, and their progress throughout the season blows me away every single day.”
Junior Jemima Saintil was somewhat disappointed in their WGI results because she felt they could have gotten a higher placement, but she accepted it and wants to try better as a person and as a whole. She plays the bass drum, a big drummer that plays a low pitch.
“We were working really hard and we wanted to place higher, and we didn’t, and we felt we played well enough that we could’ve been placed higher,” she said. “I mean we were still glad we placed in the WGI final in the nation.”
As these scholars continue enjoying winter percussion, they encourage people to try their best no matter what they do in life, especially music.
“Just because you fail now doesn’t mean you can’t work hard to be successful later,” Shepard said.