Members of the Falcon Regiment participated in several challenging marching band competitions in the month of October.

The marching band and Golden Girls first performed at the Shawnee Mission North Marching Festival on Oct 14. The Regiment placed fourth in their division and fifth overall.

The Heart of America Festival at the University of Kansas  was scheduled for Oct 21, but was cancelled due to the threat of severe weather.

According to Hannah Holliday, sophomore band student, band members did not take this news about inclimate weather very well.

“We were very disappointed because The Heart of America is everyone’s favorite competition,” Holliday said. “We are still looking forward to our next and last competition.”

Washburn University will be hosting the KBA Marching Festival on Oct 28.

This will be the last competition of the 2017 marching season.

Jill Dwyer, senior, is one of the three drum majors of the Falcon Regiment. Dwyer has helped to lead many rehearsals alongside Noelle Schlenk and Andrew Oberholtzer, seniors,. “Rehearsals are very long,” Dywer stated. “Early morning rehearsals are hard because they are early, but we get a lot of work done.”

Chad Coughlin, band director, leads the Falcon Regiment along with Mike Filla, assistant band director. As Coughlin teaches his students, he notices both strengths and weaknesses within the band.

“I would say the band’s biggest strength was a large Senior Class,” Coughlin stated. “That always helps provide some consistency and leadership to the group.”

Many issues have risen from  dangerous weather. Although the group put in the work, the weather held them back.

“We had pretty good weather for rehearsals, but bad weather has been hitting on the weekends which forced the cancellation of finals aone festival and an entire competition.” Coughlin said.