Thundering Herd claims three-peat
Photo courtesy of Eliana Lontok
Senior drum major Rebecca Kimn leads the marching band through the streets.
December 7, 2016
The Diamond Bar High School Thundering Herd ended its season on Nov. 19 with a three-peat victory at the Arcadia Festival of Bands, taking home the overall Sweepstakes and music Sweepstakes.
Senior Rebecca Kimn won first place in the military drum major division, while color guard also took home Sweepstakes.
Color guard was judged on the vocabulary, or content, of its routine, as well as its execution, showmanship and marching.
It earned an overall score of 96.5, the average score between two judges.
“A lot of the preparation was individual, mostly just getting into the mentality,” color guard captain Patrick Tran said. “Our main goal overall is to score higher in each division, and towards the end of the season, that’s when we start getting really nitpicky, like what exercises are we going to do, what exercises can we do to make sure we’re performing at every moment.”
Senior Rebecca Kimn claimed first in her category, with a score of 94.50, the highest score at the competition. She is also the first drum major to win the Arcadia Festival three years in a row.
Since it was her final competition, she tried “to make every moment special.”
“Surprisingly, I felt really calm, and this was the first time this whole season that I wasn’t nervous. In fact, I was trying to make memories at each moment of the day since I knew that it would be my last ever competition,” Kimn said.
Earlier this month, the Thundering Herd had placed first at the Chino Band Review and claimed Sweepstakes at the Chula Vista Band Review. Information on other competitions earlier this year can be found at The Bull’s Eye website, dbbullseye.com.
Band directors Steve Acciani and Marie Sato were pleased with the season overall and said that the Arcadia Band Review was an appropriate end to the season.
“Even though it is our championship, we tried to stay really consistent as far as our rehearsal technique goes. We didn’t go super intense just because it was championships, and I think ‘consistency’ was the key word for the whole season,” Sato said. “[Before the competition] Mr. A and I talked about whatever the outcome of the championship, that should not reflect how our season was. It’s still a celebration no matter what since we had such a great season.”
Color guard began its winter season on Nov. 22, while the marching band has ended its season.
However, Acciani and Sato have already begun planning for next year and while they will need to fill in spots left by current seniors, they look to keep the level of performance the same.
“We’re so consistent at what we’re doing right now that we want to maintain the approach, the attitude, the whole feeling of how we do things to stay as consistent as possible,” Acciani said.
