While there have been various meaningful events and experiences in my lifetime, my summer experience with the Boston Crusaders drum corps color guard sticks out the most to me. Although most people think drum corps is simply marching band, it is actually much more grueling than your average high school marching band. The best way I can explain drum corps is simple: professional marching band that takes place over the summer and travels throughout the United States. First, I flew to Castleton, Vermont where I stayed for about a month to learn the show I would be performing all summer. This meant 14 hour days and once the practice day was done, practicing even more on my own during free time. After spring training, tour began. While on tour I had the amazing chance to travel the country where I performed at and competed against other world class drum corps at over 30 competitions. While performing and traveling so much was fun, it also meant staying in a different school gym almost every night, and sleeping and living mostly on a bus.
While my experience with the Boston Crusaders drum corps was mentally and physically grueling, it was such an important growing and learning experience for me. I made so many new friends, and got so much better at the activity I love so much. I developed so much as both a person, and a performer in the color guard community. This experience was also so important to me because we won best color guard and got 5th place overall as a corps. I am truly able to say I performed with the best color guard in the world. Below is a picture of me holding the plaque for the George Zinglai Best Color Guard award at Drum Corps International finals retreat.
There are many things which I will remember about my experience with the Boston Crusaders, but what I would like to remember most in the future is the feeling of winning best color guard with my best friends. As we were announced best color guard on finals night, everything I had achieved that summer and all of my adversities which I had overcome came to mind. All of the blood, sweat, and tears became worth it. I cried and hugged my best friends, because we had won this together, despite all of the hard times. I would like to remember that feeling in moments of struggle, and when I feel like giving up. In the end, it will always be worth it.
I believe this experience makes me different from my peers in many ways. First of all, most of my peers have not lived out of a suitcase, a bus, and in many high school gyms for a prolonged period of time. Living in those conditions made me much more thankful for the living conditions of my home and a dorm. I also learned how to manage my belongings better and keep everything as organized as possible, which may take other teenagers my age some time to figure out. Another way this experience makes me different from my peers is the time commitment and distance away from home, friends, and family. While with college it is usual to move away from home into a dorm away from old friends and family, it is usually manageable to travel home. However, in drum corps, a travel home is not possible unless in emergency situations. I did not see my parents for a month, and it was my first time living without them. While it was scary at first, I learned how to be much more independent and how to do most things on my own. Because of my experiences, I believe drum corps is a great thing to discuss with future employers. It shows how resilient I am when times are tough and 14 hour practice days are grueling on the body. It also shows how independent I became over such a short period of time. Below is a picture of my mom and I after I performed in Mason, Ohio, which was the first time I had seen her in a month.
Some personality traits I demonstrated throughout my experience were resiliency, independence, positivity, and mental and physical strength. Below is a picture of my friend and I in San Antonio, Texas, during our first free day in a month.
Overall, my experience greatly pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I flew to a state I had never been in, to live in a dorm with people I barely knew. I learned so much about myself, about the ways I learn, when too much is too much, the types of people I need in my life, and so much more. I would recommend drum corps to everyone. The experience changed my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.