By Nick Austin and Allison Rigler
Two weeks before the first day of school, the Panther Band held their annual Summer Band Camp aka Band Camp One. Band Camp One is five days of intense work and fun, introducing the new members to the marching style, the music, and the band family. Each day is a full day, 8am to 5pm, with two days having night activities: one day had a night rehearsal and the other had a team dinner with a scavenger hunt. Assistant Director Aki Ross remarked, “ Band Camp is important because it sets the pace for the entire year, if you start off strong then it helps set the tone for the expectations of the year, especially for incoming freshmen who are not sure what the program is…which is to me the most important part.”
The days consisted of a morning marching block, a music rehearsal block and an afternoon block. Throughout the week the new members were taught the band cheers that are for every football game and band competition. Every band member went through learning the marching and maneuvering step by step so they all could be on the same page. The Band director remarked,“Band Camp is important because it pulls everyone together without the outside influence of school work-we get everybody together and we teach them what it takes to be in the band how to be in the band. We build comradery before school even starts.”
At Closing Ceremony Team Leaders come together to give awards to their respective team members: Most Improved and MVP. The reward is M&Ms ( for Marching & Maneuvering) Photo by Lorna Lavu 
Here the band is learning how to split their attention while marking time. While marking time Band Director Mr. Martin had band members clap, wave their arms, and even do the baby shark dance to demonstrate how to split their attention while marching and playing. Image by Gabe Haarberg 
Second day was Color Day! You can see the vibrant colors of Orange and Pink Team! Image by Gabe Haarberg 
Months of hard work paid off for the leaders, seeing all the band members have fun and succeed in Band Camp 1 was the best reward for them! Many team leaders agreed that there was a great feeling of family and love from everyone. Photo by Sam Aguire 
Each Team awards two of their team members after hard deliberation. Everyone worked so hard this year! Photo by Lorna Lavu 
The Closing Ceremony not only shows off the marching, maneuvering, and music, the band also showcases their Band Camp Dance that they learned every morning. This year’s dance was to Beyonce’s Coachella version of Crazy in Love. Photo by Lorna Lavu
Along with learning how to march and maneuver and play the march, the band members were introduced to the band family. “Our band camp is unique in that we spend a lot of time and effort on things that aren’t related to marching and playing. Band Camp is not so much the learning how to march, it is the building of family and the idea that everyone takes care of everyone else, and marching is a vehicle for that, “ Mr. Martin said. One of the most important things that sets the Panther Band apart from other bands is the importance of band family, and every day before lunch there were talks about mindfulness and meditation by a guest speaker, cementing the idea that this band truly cares about each other and their well being.
Band Family is so strong in the Panther Band that alumni come back all the time, including the Assistant Director Aki Ross, who graduated in 2008 but came back to help out at band camps years following. “ What’s kinda cool to me is how [the band program] has changed over the years, from when I was an incoming freshman in 2004. There’s so many things that are different, but it’s kinda cool to see new people come into the program and even see them after they’ve graduated. ITs cool to see people come back through their years in high school and even return [after they graduate], its cool because it reminds me what i did, that why i still come back because I want to help people get out of the [band] what I got out of it.”
Students were split into eight teams this year and had nineteen team leaders. These team leaders began to plan Band Camp One in June, deciding on the theme, scavenger hunt, and games for the week. The drum major for the highschool said “Pretty much all of it is student run and student planned….it’s sort of a unique thing when it comes to our band camp because when talking to other schools the team leader sort of just show up and everything is taken care of by the staff”. This year’s theme was Gods and Goddesses, so Red Team for example was God of War; Purple Team was God of Wisdom, ect. Band Camp 1 was not only a time to learn the ropes, but it was also a competition! Each team competes for points in the form of stickers, earned through winning games, or being rewarded for hard work by the staff. This year, Pink Team won!
Band Camp One is very student oriented, the Team Leaders met many times before band camp to plan and they even met at Starbucks at 6am, two hours before Band Camp started to plan out the day as a unit. One of the band Co-Presidents laughed, “We looked kinda crazy in Starbucks on the theme days, a lot of us came in tutus or costumes. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were Team Color Day, Crazy Day, and Theme Day respectively, and all of the team leaders went all out dressing up!”
Two weeks before the first day of school, the Panther Band held their annual Summer Band Camp aka Band Camp One. Band Camp One is five days of intense work and fun, introducing the new members to the marching style, the music, and the band family. Each day is a full day, 8am to 5pm, with two days having night activities: one day had a night rehearsal and the other had a team dinner with a scavenger hunt. Assistant Director Aki Ross remarked, “ Band Camp is important because it sets the pace for the entire year, if you start off strong then it helps set the tone for the expectations of the year, especially for incoming freshmen who are not sure what the program is…which is to me the most important part.”
This year is a very exciting year, with the Panther Band competing in the Fleet Week competition and participating in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, and the hard work and energy showed. Band Director Mr. Martin remarked“ The freshmen seemed to buy into what we were trying to do pretty quickly and they showed a good amount of spirit.”
But that’s not the only band camp this year! The band held their second band camp of the year this past weekend on friday the 6th and Saturday the 7th. This camp as described by one of the co-presidents was to “bring it all together”. What she meant by that was that the band has been working constantly from the time Band Camp One ended until Band Camp Two started to perfect the march, lock in the marching style and build chemistry with each other. Band Camp Two is the time where the band starts to realize their potential and when they start to look ahead towards fleet week and their New York trip in March. The band has traveled to New York, but Mr. Martin elaborates that, “Even though we did it in 2012 this is going to be a completely different trip. More kids are going , we have about 100, the band will be more entertaining, the band will have more fun playing.”
After Band Camp Two was over on Saturday the band held a potluck at 9th street park. This potluck was to bring everyone in band closer together and enjoy food and games while doing so. A current band member described the potluck as “ A great experience that everyone looks forward to and uses as motivation to get through Band Camp Two.” As you can see band isn’t only serious work, thay have some fun while doing it.
Second Day of Band Camp 2 is a theme day! This year’s theme was Family Game Day, the Sousas dressed as the game Hungry Hungry Hippos. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
Fun and Games: Parker Stewart laughs as he cracks jokes with Chris Hernandez and Josh Versace. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
Luca DiPriamo goes to spike the ball as band members look on in anticipation. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
At the Band Camp Two Potluck there’s a tradition of playing a volleyball game with the whole band! Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
The tight knit group of seniors have a pep talk at the potuck, sharing their excitement for the upcoming year. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
Here Trish Poblete hugs Niah Madigan in celebration during the volleyball game. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire 
After both Band Camp 1 and 2, the Panther Band have hit the ground running towards an amazing year. Photo by Kyle Awayan/ Sam Aguire
