by Encina Herrera
On Nov. 9, the pride of the Pueblo marching band placed in the Top 25 in the State; that’s two consecutive years for this ranking!
State championships this year took place at Buckeye Union High School in Buckeye, Ariz. Last year, our marching Warriors placed 21st out of 22, while this year students pushed hard and made it happen again; this time, however, they placed 23rd out of 30.
“This year we scored eight points higher than last year,” said Mr. Jesus Jacquez, Pueblo’s band director and teacher. “It [placing 23rd] may not seem like it, but it’s a way better rating [than last year’s placing].”
The score improvement shown by those eight points in just one year is a big step towards the success and rebuilding of our school’s music and band programs, according to Jacquez.
Our band placed higher than 25th in sub-categories including general effect music/visual, music individual/ensemble, and visual individual/ensemble, even surpassing Sahuaro High School, whose band has historically ranked higher in previous competitions.
Jacquez said, “Beating Sahuaro in the sub-categories felt pretty good. I didn’t think we would beat them in some of the categories.”
The band program at Pueblo has grown tremendously over the past few years thanks to the commitment from Jacquez and his students.
Senior Polet Licudine, a drum major, said, “The band has really improved because everybody knows what they are doing this year. Last year, students didn’t have this inspiration and organization. Mr. Jacquez has really made us a better program.”
Another senior, Luciana Velarde, the band’s trumpet soloist, said, “The band program has grown immensely, and within a few months of this school year and gained more recognition. Mr. Jacquez believes very deeply in us.”