It has been a whirlwind week...lots and lots of marching band stuff, and swimming and taekwondo, and...probably other stuff? It's been a good week, but I'm ready for my nerves to calm down a bit.
After a very full rehearsal day on Saturday, Ava suited up and went out with friends for the RHS Fall Formal. She walked in heels for the first time (we had to have a quick "let's not stomp our feet" lesson), and had a blast hanging out with her "junior" friends, as well as seeing some of her "younger", aka freshmen, friends at the dance. The dance was supposed to go until 11, but after a really long day, I was not disappointed when she asked me to come and get her at 10pm. Everything was fine, but she missed her bed. And sleep. So, I happily went and picked her up!
.jpg)
By far, the biggest event happening this week started at 3am on Thursday morning. Ava and the rest of the RHS marching band headed off to Indy for the 2022 Bands of American Grand Nationals. I bet their five motorcoaches and Big Blue (the semi hauling the props and the pit equipment) made for a great sight to see heading out of Rosemount! They made it to Indy safely, and had a great first day in prelims on Friday. They made it into semi-finals, and are performing at 3:15pmET on Saturday afternoon for qualification into finals.
My book club kindly let me take over the conversation from 8-9pm on Friday night, and we watched the prelims award ceremony together. They announced the 30 semi-finalists, and RHS wasn't in there. It was a bit shocking, and very disappointing. And then the announcer said "semi-finalist #31"...and we were all very confused. Very. They ended up announcing 34 semi-finalists and RHS was called at #32! This does NOT mean that they came in at #32 for the day...the order was random, but ugh, that was painful to wait that long.
I texted with Ava, and asked her to explain why there were 34 and she had no idea. Neither did the rest of the band. They were all in a convention room together in Indy, and she said the room got quiet when they called #30. I'm sure the band was incredibly disappointed, but then they were also really confused when the announcers started calling out #31. I saw a video of the room when RHS was announced and the kids jumped up, chairs were knocked over (from excitement), and there was copious amounts of cheering! We are so incredibly proud of the amazing RHSMB, no matter how far they go in today's competition.
So, let's talk about this weird math, shall we? Marching band competitions are divided into classes, based on a lot of different things, one of them being overall school enrollment size. With over 2700+ kids at RHS, the marching band generally falls into Class4A which is the largest of the classes. With the competitions, each class needs to be represented in the semi-finals, so we have the class winners for Class 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A, and then the top 30 scoring bands...giving us the 34 semi-finalists.
I also saw some postings about how this meant that RHS was in the Top 22. This made for more math struggles, but thank goodness for the internet and people who pay attention! The order of the semi-finalists performances were posted, and apparently it was discussed previously that the first 8 bands to perform, and the last 4 bands to perform were the lower scoring bands. Reason behind this is that they need to give the bands who are more likely to move onto finals a chance to rest more between prelims and the end of semi-finals. These 12 bands are a buffer. Rosemount is NOT slotted into one of these 12 band times, and is actually near the end of the "protected" zone. This is how we get to the remaining top 22 bands (34-12=22 😀).
To break those 22 down even further, from each day, 11 bands were selected (giving us that 22...stay with me here...11x2 = 22). This means that Rosemount scored in the top 11 on Friday. TOP 11!! (I sure hope this is all true...more than one person confirmed this, so I think it is?)
All of the bands have been amazing to watch, and you can tell how hard ALL of the kids have worked to get this far. Hats off to ALL bands at Grand Nats this weekend!
I have no idea how the semi-finals will go today, but we are so incredibly proud of Ava and the band for getting this far. Not bad considering this is only their 2 time at nationals! In checking in with Ava, it sounds like she's having fun, which is very, very important. (I bet she's missing her bed and sleep though, ha.)
Getting ready to hop out of the car at 3:45am to head to Indy!
.jpg)
Scott's been hunting this weekend, so we've been keeping him updated on the progression. I know he's incredibly proud of Ava, as well!
G had a good week, too...he didn't win student council rep for his class, and he was very disappointed. But, it's okay for him to learn that he doesn't always get everything he wants. Currently, he's at a birthday party with a video game truck...I'm sure that fun made up for the sting of losing student council!
And I'm home without anyone else here but Pria. It's the weirdest thing. I sat in a coffee shop today and read. By myself! The chaos will return shortly, so I'm soaking up the quiet while I have it!
Comments