The North Polk Marching Band had their first competition on Sept. 25 at Pella High School against Knoxville, West Liberty, South Tama, Bondurant-Farrar, Winterset, and Oskaloosa. 

The marching band’s last competition before competing at Pella High School was at the Mid-Iowa Marching Band Championships in October of 2019. Due to COVID-19, their competition season was cancelled last year, creating two years of new band members with little to no competition experience.

The marching band placed first overall at their first competition of the year. They won by 0.1 point against Oskaloosa. Band Director, Brandon Weeks, shared, “I was surprised and not surprised at the same time. Marching contests are unique. We can’t control how judges judge and we also have no control or influence over how another group performs. All we can control is ourselves. I knew a good run through by us was good enough to win, but we would have to wait through the entire contest to see how things played out.” 

For future competitions, the band’s goal is to push forward to be even more successful. Sydney Mast, lead drum major and band president, shared, “As soon as Pella was over, it was already made clear to us that we needed more work, because our performance at Pella was one of our worst, and we could do so much better, so now we are working tirelessly to become the best band we can be.”

On the whole, Weeks shared, “We are super proud of our students! They are accomplishing things that have never been done here at North Polk in our time as a 3A school. We can’t wait to see what other successes this year brings.”