The students in band prepare each year for the big War Memorial contest in October. We practice every day since summer band, perfecting the halftime show and nailing notes.


Saturday marked the day that all of our hard work paid off. We traveled at noon to War Memorial Stadium to watch our competitors perform and then to perform ourselves.


Bands from all over Arkansas gathered for friendly competition. An awards ceremony followed and trophies were handed out to each medal-worthy band.


Over the years, the Searcy High School Marching Band has won superior awards and expectations were high for this year’s contest. We have worked hard each morning to prepare for this contest.  We run the same drills over and over, perfecting each line and each note to ensure a win.

The color guard practices after school each Wednesday, making sure the routines are perfect. The drum line meets each Wednesday as well, and Mr. Hines works with them to make sure each song is a success.


This year we walked away with the Outstanding Percussion Award, an award that surprised us all. It has been a few years since our band has taken an “Outstanding” award, especially Outstanding Percussion, so we were all very proud of our drum line Saturday.

 Our new percussion instructor contributed greatly to our win and our receiving the Outstanding Percussion Award.

“It was a great experience to see not only the percussion section, but the entire band perform so well on Saturday. Our goals are never to only win trophies, but when the percussion section was recognized for their performance on Saturday, it was very rewarding,” said Mr. Hines of the band’s overall performance.

The performance was a tough one, what with the sun in our eyes and the reverb bouncing back at us from the stands.


Nevertheless, we pushed through and managed to put on a great show!


The opener was intense and the crowd went wild. We danced our way through “We’re An American Band” and “American Woman.” To finish the show, saxophones and French Horns harmonized “America The Beautiful” and the color guard brought out the huge flag in the center of the band. We received a standing ovation from the crowd of band parents and other bands from across the region.


After the performance, the band took their place in the stands to watch other bands from various schools perform. We watched White Hall, Cabot, Conway, and a variety of other great bands.


At the end of the day, the Searcy High School Marching Lion Band walked away with superior ratings for marching, music, drum majors, color guard, and the outstanding percussion award!


This year’s contest was tough, but great nevertheless and the hard work has paid off.  All in all, the band did a wonderful job of keeping the show together under pressure. We still have errors to work out, but the show seems to get better each time we perform. 


“We are always looking to the future and planning to make improvements throughout the band. We always emphasize having a great sound and we always try to entertain our audience,” said  Hines.


However, it is always a wonderful feeling to know how far you’ve come from day one.