Waking up to the flashing lights of two police cars escorting us to back to the high school and being welcomed by families and members of the school community gave us such an immensely rewarding feeling. It was overwhelming since we were already joyous from winning first place at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY, capping off an undefeated season. Everyone from the Band and Color Guard fought to hold back tears as all of our hard work paid off right in front of us.  We won first place in the Small School 2 Division Championships.

I remember the growing and anxious feeling as band after band was called by placing: 9th, 8th, 7th… We were all on edge.  And then we heard, “With a score of 85.05, the Small School 2 Division Champions - Mineola Marching Band!” It was such a rewarding feeling, knowing that all the hours spent as a team didn’t go to waste.

There are many highlights from this memorable season.  They start with sharing quality bonding time with everyone in the Marching Band up in the Poconos for band camp in August, and the grinding hours to learn the show for those five days. Another great memory for me was the final run through before Syracuse. The most significant moment that happened this season in our director’s eye was when the entire marching band sat down with each other and just talked, not working on marching or music, but just talking and appreciating each other’s words to strengthen our bonds and our connection as a team.

The biggest and brightest moment of our season was our Home Show at Michael J Tully Park on October 20th. Getting to experience and feel the amount of support and love this Marching Band gets from the parents of the kids, the faculty of our schools, and even from our competitors, fueled us to keep pushing to impress and amaze anyone whom we performed for. What made that night as beautiful as it could be was appreciating and commemorating our senior members with a ceremony, recognizing them for putting in so much time and efforts throughout the years.

It’s amazing and relieving to see the Mineola Marching Band back in the game and bringing home the Governor’s Cup with our name on it.  We can’t wait to bring more to the game next season and keep our crown.

CLICK the VIDEO LINK above for an interview with Mr. Toomey, director of the Marching Band.