Salida High School is bidding a fond farewell to Ben Smith, Rachel Anderson, and Clara Streeter, our band program leaders, who will embark on their life journeys within the next few weeks. Their dedication and hard work, starting from the 5th grade and continuing throughout high school, has kept the band program solid and intact. Their entrance as freshmen marked a turning point for the band, significantly increasing its numbers. Seniors Radana Myers, Grace McFarland, Trey Andres, Rachel Anderson, Ben Smith, Clara Streeter and Peyton Bowers have joined and stayed since freshman year, contributing to the expansion and flourishing of the program.
The Salida High School Jazz Band president, Ben Smith, started on trombone and experimented with percussion, guitar, and bass. He also plays many other instruments as well as singing and performing in the theatre. His favorite part of his time with the jazz band is the welcoming, encouraging, and passionate community, and he loves making music with them every morning. Although, he says, “it’s quite a lot of hard work, dedication, and hearing loss.” Smith currently plays first-chair trombone and plans to continue music in some capacity at university since he loves messing around with instruments in his free time. Beyond high school, he’s planning to major in civil engineering at George Fox University in Oregon. He says he learned a lot of life skills from his time in band, such as how to play an instrument, anger management, and grit.
Clara Streeter is the Concert Band co-president alongside Rachel Anderson, and has been playing trumpet throughout her eight years in the school band, while also participating in SHS drama. She is the first chair trumpet and co-drum major alongside Smith and Anderson, respectively. Streeter takes pride in the band community, their dedication to their achievements, and the growth in herself and others. Even though her major at CSU will be biochemistry, she will still be doing the non-audition band in the fall this year and eventually as many bands as she can in the spring and onward. Also, she intends to continue playing music as often as she can as she continues to learn from it.
“I have learned what it means to be a leader, how and why I should dedicate myself to things, and how to better myself, even if it’s not necessarily on my instrument.”
Anderson plays all saxophones, but mainly the baritone sax. She loves the friendly atmosphere and getting to spend time playing music with passionate friends and an excellent teacher. She says it may seem an intimidating experience at first, but it’s relatively easy with the collaborative dedication of the whole band. She says that without everyone putting in the hard work, they’d struggle, but since they work and mesh so well, they can play beautiful music and have fun together. She’s grateful to have found her passion and love for music through band and plans to minor in music at Stetson University, where she’s also pursuing being a veterinarian, and hopes to participate in as many bands as possible.
Anderson stated, “In 5th grade, being in band was the coolest thing. Now, not so much. Nonetheless, it is still cool to me and one of the most fun things I could have chosen to take an interest in. My music education will be with me forever, and I’m proud of how far I have come.”
These seniors, with the guidance of Ms. Katie Ogelsby and Mr. Andre Wilkins, played a pivotal role in shaping the Salida School District band programs. Their initiative and teamwork led to the creation of the marching band, a significant milestone in the programs’ history. They’ve done fantastic at the honor bands they’ve attended, scoring the best at the CHASA large group festival at Pueblo East High School. They also performed at Canon City’s Apple Blossom Festival on May 3rd and their last concert of the school year, on May 8th at the SHS Auditorium. At this concert, they announced the winners of the Louis Armstrong Award for Jazz Band and the John Phillips Sousa for Concert Band. Smith and Anderson were awarded the Louis Armstrong Award, and Clara Streeter won the John Philip Sousa. Grace McFarland took home the award for Most Improved Musician as well. Director Andre Wilkins touched on how difficult the selection process for these awards was, as all of this year’s seniors are highly talented and qualified.
“Every senior class is different, and I don’t want to discount anybody previously, but in this class and where I’m at in my career, we just had the stars align, and we got to do a lot of great stuff. I’m super proud, and we scored as well as we did at contest because they’re superstars,” SHS Band Director, Andre Wilkins says.
He can’t say enough positive things about them and says they’ll be great at anything they choose to do.
“One of the things I look forward to most, and this will be part of my speech at the concert, is how we talk about fearing the future because you’re a part of such a different generation; they’re going to be the adults in my daughter’s life, and I don’t fear what the world is going to be like if they’re running it, same with the choir seniors.”
SHS couldn’t be prouder of the band’s accomplishments over the recent years, and these leaders leaving feels like the end of an era. We are excited to see what we’ll see of these individuals and the band in the future.
