Color guard adds a visual element to the band’s halftime shows. But this year, there’s a new man leading the way. Wingspan caught up with new color guard director Scott Mills to get his thoughts about this year’s crew and what’s next for the group.

Wingspan: What is it like working with a group of young teenage girls?

Mills: “It’s interesting for sure, there are a lot of personalities, and sometimes a little bit of drama. Overall we have fun and a good time and we get a lot done.”

Wingspan: Do you learn from them?

Mills: “I feel like working with teenagers in general keeps me young, so I feel very current on a lot of the lingo and terminology that people use so it makes me feel like I’m not super old.”

Wingspan: How did you get into teaching color guard?

Mills: “I started teaching when one of my old color guard instructors asked me if I was interested in teaching and I said sure I’ll give it a try. That just kinda started me and I kept teaching from there.”

Wingspan: How do you balance the long hours of color guard and your personal life? Is it hard?

Mills: “Yes it’s difficult at times, generally we do have long days with lots of rehearsal, but I just do my best to leave color guard stuff at school and when I go home that’s when I get to have my time and have my personal life. Sometimes I just go a couple of weeks or months without a personal life and you just kinda get used to it after awhile.”

Wingspan: What is the mindset they have to have in order to be successful?

Mills: “I think for a color guard member to be successful you just have to be prepared to work hard, you also have to work smart. We try our best and effort is definitely important. We pay attention to the details and try to apply information as fast as possible.”

Wingspan: There are a couple of boys on the team, do they have different roles than the girls?

Mills: “Not usually, sometimes if there is like a lift or if you need a little bit more of strength that’s where boys will have a slightly different role, but generally all our responsibilities are the same no matter what the gender is.”

Wingspan: What do the guards add to the show and how does it affect the overall performance?

Mills: “So the color guard adds a visual aspect to the marching band show, our job is to try and tell a story or convey the message the band is trying to play through their music. We use our flags and visual dance choreography to help tell the story in a much more visual way than the band can do.”

Wingspan: What are your goals for this year?

Mills: “To have a good time is always super important, I look mostly for growth, i don’t like the base the success of a year on trophies or placement, I like to focus on are we better now than when we started, and if we are then we are successful.”

Wingspan: What do the individuals on the team benefit from doing color guard?

Mills: In my experience, you learn a lot of good life skills like time management since we have crazy schedules, hard work because you are pushed outside of your comfort zone and you  just have to learn how to adapt to it. You also learn dedication, it takes a big commitment to be apart of this, you can’t just not show up, if you commit you have to be there. There is a lot of character that comes along other than just learning how to do color guard.”

Wingspan: What is the difference between the fall and winter season?

Mills: “The biggest difference is that in the fall we perform outside with the marching band and then during the winter we perform inside and we’re a little more separate from the band during the winter so we will have a soundtrack that is consistent every time and they perform inside on a tarp to that.”

Wingspan: Which season do you like better?

Mills: “I prefer winter guard but only because it is a little bit more guard focused and in the fall we have to look at the big picture and how we fit into what the band is doing.When it’s winter guard it’s just us so we get to dig in a little bit and I don’t have to outside as much,that’s never a bad thing.”

Wingspan: What are the qualifications to join color guard?

Mills: “For me just the ability to work hard and the drive to be great, I don’t think you need anything else, and dance experience helps and it is always appreciated but as long as you have a pulse and the desire to be there than I’m happy to have you.”