Joliet West’s Marching Tigers have placed within the top 3 of every competition so far this season. They placed 2nd Place in Class 3A field in the Providence Catholic High School Marching Band Invitational, 3rd Place in Class 4A field in the Red and Black Fall Classic at NIU, and 3rd place overall at the Romeoville Marching Band Festival.
They’ve worked endlessly to perfect their performance on the field and on their own time. This year’s performance is led by drum majors Hannah Eldred, Paola Lozada, and Olivia Eldred. The drum majors oversee conducting and leading the band during shows and competitions. When asked how she thought the season was going, sophomore Olivia Eldred responded with, “The band has a lot of potential and the energy has been great.” The band’s energy is truly displayed on the field through their simultaneous movement that represent a clock and the bright colors from the color guard. The theme of this year’s performance is the Fabric of Time, which can be seen through the color guard’s costume, which shows half of a clock on the torso, and during the band’s performance which at one point they form a clock on the field.
Besides the band, the color guard has gotten a lot of attention for this year’s performance. They toss their flags in unison and catch them all on tempo. The colors of their costumes and flags are eye catching to the audience and stand out. Despite having a smaller guard compared to last year, the team doesn’t allow that to affect their great performance. The captains put in a lot of time and effort to guide the color guard. Color guard captain and senior, Madison (Luca) Wascom said, “As captain it’s only a small part of the job to make sure that the guard is doing the work ‘perfectly’ or that they are focus. What’s really important [as captain] is that we motivate the guard and bring their spirits up after a long day of school or after a bad day”.
In the last 2 competitions, the band performed a great show. Unfortunately they didn’t place, but gave it their best.