Kickapoo Golden Arrow Band 2021 Season
Photo by Emma Mayne
The Kickapoo Golden Arrow Band prepares for an upcoming competition on the football field.
The Kickapoo Golden Arrow band has a long history of success that didn’t disappoint this season.
Their show this year, Luminous, is revolved around the idea of light and gold. There are three movements, or different songs in the show, varying from slow tunes to fast-paced rhythms.
After months of hard work, the band of 149 students of all grades and instruments showed what they’ve worked for at the competitions they performed at this year.
“That’s the payoff- you do all of this just for the seven minutes that you’re on the field,” junior Jacob Hall said. “That’s where you’ve got to make it all count.”
Marching band is a combination of playing difficult pieces of memorized music while marching and doing choreography. This creates a larger visual effect for the audience to enjoy.
“Rather than sitting in a chair and playing something, you actually have to do something with the music, like make the music move,” junior Kinsey Keeling said.
There are a lot of different components that have to work together for the show to go smoothly. One of these is the drum majors.
The drum majors this year, Polaris Rissler, McKenna Hunt, and Riley Rector, are responsible for keeping the band together musically.
“Drum majors are the bridge between the actual students and staff.” junior Riley Rector said.
All three drum majors are on a raised platform and use their hands to keep time as a visual metronome for the band.
“It’s nice to be able to feel like you have an important role in the band,” junior McKenna Hunt said.
Being a drum major is a leadership position in the band and these students do their part to help the band succeed.
“It makes me feel good about myself cause it makes me feel like I’ve contributed more to the band being successful,” Hunt said.
The band performed at four competitions in September and October, all around the midwest, and placed in finals in all of them.
“If you do make it to finals, afterward it’s really relieving just because you’re done and usually it’s better than your first run so it’s rewarding,” junior Camilla Fuentes said.
Marching band not only gives these students a musical and athletic outlet but also a community.
“You spend time with the people that you normally otherwise wouldn’t,” Hunt said.
Between during and after-school practices and long days spent traveling and performing, by the end of the season this band is more of a family than a class.
“All in all, we come together, we all do something that we like together and we have a lot of fun,” Rector said.
Smith Dives Into State Once Again
Photo by Emma Mayne
Kickapoo diver Brett Smith is a three-time state qualifier.
When you think of sports at Kickapoo, football, baseball, and basketball normally come to mind first. But, there are some sports are that aren’t as well known.
Junior Brett Smith is the only diver on the Kickapoo boys swim team, but he doesn’t let that stop him from doing the sport he loves.
“I dive because it is a fun and interesting sport. It’s a sport that requires repetition and where other sports force strength, diving is more about technique,” Smith said.
He first started diving freshman year because his older sister was a diver in high school and she encouraged him to join. Smith also has a history in gymnastics and so he already had a flipping background, which is helpful when diving.
There are multiple dives that Smith has learned; he can do at least 20 dives, but practices about 12 daily.
“You’re gonna flop on your first couple times, no matter what,” Smith said.
His favorite and top-scoring dive he does is an inward, which is a front flip off the end of the board.
After a diver performs their dive, they get five different scores out of ten from five judges. The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the three middle scores are added together and divided by the difficulty of the dive.
“The worst part is whenever you go up to the diving board and you think about it too much and you psych yourself out because the longer you think about it, the harder it’s gonna be,” Smith said.
Although Smith is the only boy diver at Kickapoo, he knows he isn’t alone when competing.
“We have other divers from SPS and we’re all cheering on each other and we’re a team,” Smith said. “Most of the divers from SPS, Nixa, Ozark, and Republic go and do stuff together.”
The divers from other schools aren’t the only ones supporting Smith, but the swimmers from Kickapoo as well.
“I enjoy diving because you meet a lot of new people along the way,” Smith said. “Our teammates make us laugh and take our mind off of the scary parts to diving.”
But the season isn’t over yet. Right now, Smith is one of the top male high school divers in Missouri. He’s gone to state competition the past two years and is predicted to represent Kickapoo again at state on November 13th.
