Instead of dancing at the homecoming dance, band students will be marching at the Little Elm Classic on the Lake Contest Saturday night.

“It’s one of those things that’s kind of unavoidable in a season where we’re trying to be competitive and we’re trying to be present in the competitions that are available to us,” Associate Director of Bands Zack Anderson said. “In terms of scheduling, we are only able to go to a select few contests and and not going to this one, would severely limit our ability to participate in future contests that we would also like to participate in.”

Band is a top priority for many of its members, and not being able to attend homecoming isn’t a big deal to freshman Kathryn Hungl.

“Honestly, I don’t really care that I can’t attend the dance because I’ve never really actually gone to a school dance,” Hung said. “And I feel like for me band is more important because I’ve been doing it since sixth grade. It’s a commitment, so you have to kind of go with it and just be present in everything you do. It’s also our first competition, so it’s really important to the rest of the band as well.”

Working on their performance for months, clarinet player, senior Lindsey Jobe says mindset is what will make this difference in how the band performs. 

“We want to stay positive throughout all of the practices leading up to the performance. Not just the ones the week before,” clarinet player and visual captain, senior Lindsey Jobe said. “We need to all be responsible enough to make sure that we are staying on top of our music and on top of our physical stuff. Starting from day one of summer band practice we have to start pushing ourselves to get better.”