2008 Woodie Awards
High schools march on O'Brien
Katie Anderson/Campus Editor
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: News
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Then came the hard part of the day - waiting to see if the judges liked it as much as she did.
The scores were tallied.
Breaths were held.
Trophies gleamed in the sun.
Shortly after 4 p.m., Deb got her answer.
Her Newton Community High School marching band earned not only the outstanding percussion award, but first in the AA division and first place overall among the 20 other high school marching bands at the 32nd Annual Eastern Illinois University Marching Band Festival.
Sharon Blievernicht, senior drum major for Newton, carried a trophy more than half her size off the track at O'Brien Stadium.
Blievernicht could hardly speak as she gasped and laughed with teary-eyed excitement.
"At our last competition about two weeks ago, we didn't perform very well, so we are very excited," she said.
Alburtus and her band had been practicing their piece, "Music of Beethoven," since the summer.
Once school started, the band practiced five days a week in class and an additional two nights a week after school.
But Saturday morning preparation was not on Alburtus' mind.
One of the color guard member's mothers had been taken to the emergency room earlier that day. Alburtus' main concern was simply to keep her 113-member marching band focused.
"There were a lot of unplanned distractions today," she said.
The Newton band members and more than 1,000 other high school marching band members filled O'Brien Stadium and the practice fields on Saturday.
Bands from all over the state participated in the competition that began at 9:30 a.m. and continued until after 3 p.m. The Panther Marching Band then took the field to show off for the competitors and their parents before awards were distributed.
The schools were split into four divisions for competition.
First-through-third prizes were awarded for each division, A through AAA. Additionally, each division had an award for "outstanding" auxiliary, drum major and drumline.
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