feATURES Band marches forward despite canceled season Hailee Bowen staff writer After practicing officially for about two weeks in July, the SHS Band of Warriors marching season was halted after the Indiana State School Music Association canceled this year’s competitions statewide in light of COVID-19. “As a member of the ISSMA State Board, I 100 percent support the decision made by ISSMA. At the end of the day, the health and safety of ALL involved is and should be our top priority,” Band of Warriors Director Curtis Turner said in a letter to the community following the cancellation of the competitive season. “This decision is by no means meant to be a slap in the face to all students, as much as the decision hurts and as much as you, as parents and fans, may feel it is. Not having ‘contests’ to look forward to is a great loss, but remember that there are many other reasons why we love the band.” “It was sad to see it happen but understandable and all the precautions made it harder to have fun but not impossible. It didn’t make it harder to play at games because of how spaced we are. The precautions did make it hard to practice due to how
Photo by: Isabela Diaz
Beat goes on: Band of Warriors continue to play despite their competitive season being cut short due to COVID-19. Zachary Taylor (9) plays a baritone during a home football game.
closed in the room is.” junior Colin Owens said. At past marching band competitions, hundreds of people attend the competition to cheer their school band on and to participate. The competitions allow the students to meet people from other schools,
which now would be considered hazardous as COVID-19 spreads through the air and large public gatherings could increase the likelihood of a spreading event. Despite the cancellation of in-person competi-
tions, the ISSMA provided a virtual alternative option for marching bands across the state. “Groups will video record a performance of their show and then upload the video to a secure platform for three judges to watch and critique,” Turner said. “The judges will assess and provide commentary on the performance, give a score, and award a rating of gold, silver, or bronze. A trophy will be sent to the school of the necessary rating.” The Band of Warriors continues to practice during class time and after school. The band performs Friday nights at home football games and will host a community performance on Oct. 3 at Warrior Field, located at Scottsburg Middle School. At the community performance, the band will record their virtual performance to submit for judging by ISSMA. “Having band cut short was disappointing because the freshman heard so many great stories from years past and they didn’t get to experience those things this year,” sophomore Sonya King said. “The precautions did make some things difficult like block work and condensing things down because we’d have to keep our masks on and that’s pretty difficult when we have to play. Overall, COVID made it hard to stay motivated. We don’t really have an end goal, but we’re all trying to pick each other up and push ourselves to become better.”
Q&A: Cramer shares summer COVID-19 research experience Catherine Valencia staff writer With a background in laboratory research at the University of Louisville, Dr. Daniel Cramer, a biology teacher, worked with a COVID-19 research team over the summer. Q: What is your take on COVID-19? A: It was surprising, and it has almost been a year since it has first popped up. It’s similar to its predecessor SARS. COVID-19 and SARS are in the same family. Originally, I did not think this would be as infectious as it is since SARS wasn’t, but it was definitely mutated from that. Q: What is his opinion on the vaccine? (Coming soon, how effective?)
A: We were promised a vaccine by November. There are three very well established groups, one out of England and two out of the U.S that are very close to finding a vaccine — by that I mean they are at least into trials. They are in their third stage of their trials which is the final stage, but it usually takes several months. The Chinese and the Russians have also both started vaccinating certain populations. We haven’t seen any data from where the vaccine is derived from, so we don’t know much about it. Q: What is your experience working with a COVID-19 team?
A: I was doing model work. A couple years ago when I was at Louisville, I worked with SARS and they are both similar. The main animal models for this are the hamster and the ferret because they mimic us as far as lung capacity and symptoms, better than mice and others. Q: Are masks/social distancing effective? A: The first line we have to this particular virus is masks and social distancing and washing. As long as all of us keep that up, we will eventually turn the corner on this but we all have to be very careful with what we are doing. We could have another outbreak as soon as two weeks if people start being careless.
Q: What do you think of all the school is doing for prevention? Is it effective? A: I am very impressed with the student body here. They have reacted well with this. The fact that we don’t have the same problems that some of the other schools around us have is largely due to the fact that the students are abiding by the rules. The students and staff are being responsible. People are washing their hands as they already should’ve been. There are not many problems with people not wanting to wear masks. I’m hoping that when these students and staff members are outside of school, they are doing the same thing.
Sept. 2020, Issue 1
Features
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