Thursday August 18

Welcome to Band Camp, a place of tradition. The tradition enacted on this Thursday, as on many previous Thursday nights of past Camps, was Senior speeches. At the end of the 11-12 school year we will graduate 34 seniors from the marching mustangs alone. Those observant readers will have noticed a considerably later post tonight than the last few evenings. 34 senior speeches do take up a lot of time. But, this tradition has continued because it is good, and I see it as good for two reasons. One: it puts the seniors in the spotlight. Not often enough do these hard-working individuals receive applause or recognition but tonight they get both, plus the opportunity to make a tangible if not final impact on the band. And that they did, as laughter and memories flowed from the speeches of these student members. The other reason I like this tradition is in the fact that since 34 senior speeches take about 2 hours, I was able to sit next to my good friends for that amount of time. This is unheard of at any other point in the fast fast fast band camp schedule. Senior night allows the band to slow down, appreciate each other and what we all work for. Also, it lets everyone get excited for a wonderful performance the next day. I hope to see you all tomorrow, dinner is at 5:30! Thank you for reading, good night.

Josiah