Large wooden props, freshly polished instruments and vibrant flags are all held by blue-uniformed musicians as they wait in precision lines. As the signal is given, the Marching Mustangs eagerly step onto the stadium field for the first time in seven years.

On Oct. 28, the DGS Marching Mustangs competed in the Bands Of America Super-Regional in St. Louis. The Bands Of America Super-Regional is a national competition for high school marching bands from across the country.

Marching band director Aaron Kennedy feels like this is a much needed trip for the marching band. He explains why he decided to do Bands Of America.

“My main goal is to have the band compete on a national level and expose the kids to the national caliber of bands,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy not only wanted to challenge the Marching Mustangs but also wanted to make up for skipping the Illinois State University state competition held during homecoming weekend.

“Due to our homecoming schedule, we couldn’t attend our normal ending tournament. I wanted to shoot for something around this time and saw that the Super-Regional was the weekend after homecoming; so I signed us up,” Kennedy said.

Senior Briyana Zeigler is one of the drum majors in the marching band. She shares how she feels about missing the Illinois State University Championship for Bands Of America.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling because Illinois State University is well-known and you know what to expect there. I’m excited for Bands Of America because we will get to see new, better bands and really be able to push ourselves even further,” Zeigler said.

Though this is the first time any current Marching Mustang is going to Bands of America, freshman Sam Wootton is excited about the band’s biggest performance yet.

“I have never experienced this before. Everyone is going to be there and we get to play in front of new people,” Wootton said.

The Marching Mustangs placed 45th out of 64 bands at the competition with a score of 68.300.