Waukon High School Marching Band brings its season to a close with final pair of performances ...

The Waukon High School Marching Band had a successful end to its marching season with performances at Wartburg College in Waverly September 30 and at the Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA) State Marching Band Festival in Waterloo October 6. With the end to that season, the marching band saw the final performances of its four seniors. Pictured in the photo below, left to right, are marching band senior members Lauren McCabe and Gabe Goettel, Marching Band Director Jo Ann Sherman, and senior members Ryan Kolsrud and Alice Day. “The band will greatly miss the leadership of its four senior band members,” Director Sherman shared in reflection.

Saturday, September 30, the Marching Indians performed at the Wartburg College football game against Coe College, a game that featured former Waukon High School football players on each of the two competing teams. The band survived high temperatures that reached into the 90s, performing (as pictured above) the National Anthem for pre-game and its entire halftime show for the crowd in attendance.

A week later, Friday, October 6, the Marching Indians attended the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Band Festival. This is just the third year that the Indians have participated in this event, and they came home with many positive comments while receiving a Division II rating. In the end, the marching band missed out on a Division I rating by just one point.

Director Jo Ann Sherman, commented, “I’m so proud of all the band members this year. We received some constructive comments on how to improve our halftime show at state contests in 2022. This required our students to be willing to step out of their comfort zone and try some new things in our programming for this year. We needed to add body sculpting and some back field marching to our show to be more competitive. I explained this to the students, and they embraced the idea of adding these components to our show. They worked hard in class every day all the way up to the day we attended contests.” Submitted photos.