Entertainment

Silver Stars and band build their bond

Nicole Rooney Entertainment Editor

This year the JBHS Outdoor Performing Ensemble and Silver Stars are starting an activity where they both exchange gifts and get to know each other better, so they can become closer.

With football season starting, this year, the Silver Stars and the band are doing a buddies program to help them become closer as teams. This is an activity where band members get assigned a Silver Star and they both exchange gifts once a week.

“We started band and Silver Star Buddies as a way for the students to bond with each other and build connections between the two organizations that work so closely together during the fall semester,” Silver Star director Leanne Bilnoski said. “It is so fun to watch the Silver Stars and band members exchange notes and gifts, which has made game days even more exciting. We love the comradery that is being built between the two programs.”

The band and the Silver Stars both perform often, together and separate. The moment when they step on the field is the moment that all of their hard work gets paid off, according to senior band member Jackson Bloder.

“Performing gives just so much adrenaline,” Bloder said. “You do all of the things that you’ve ingrained into your mind over the course of three months and are able to go out and give your best.”

Junior Silver Star Cressida Rodriguez always cheers on her band buddy. Whether the teams are performing on a stage, a field, or just practicing, she believes that they all have each other’s backs.

“Silver Stars is a pure example of a hardworking family, they have given me the opportunity to meet sisters I will have for life,” Rodriguez said. “My buddy is in color guard and they are a smaller group, but since I know my new buddy and a few other girls, I have so much fun with them.”

The band and the Silver Stars are closely integrated teams due to the fact that they both rely on each other to perform at during football games. Both teams have their differences but, their similarities are the things that bring the teams together because of their understanding of each other.

“Band and Silver Stars are close homies,” Bloder said. “We both have a lot of respect for each other because of how much work both groups put into their activity.”

The buddies program was created as a way of creating an even closer bond. While working with their buddies, the teammates get to gain a better understanding of how the teams work and a better connection with their buddy.

“I enjoy getting to know more about the band in general and getting to know more about individual band members,” senior Keira Folkers said. “Silver Stars also love getting to watch our band buddies perform and getting to cheer for them from the end zone at football games.”

Having gone through so much, such as similar practice hours and difficult training, the two teams have a special appreciation for each other when it comes to performing, both on and off the field.

“I enjoy the connection between band and Silver Stars because we are there for each other and hype each other up,” Rodriguez said, “When I need to motivate myself during practice I look to band and they hype us up.”

Buddies not only bring the students closer during practice, but also gives them a familiar face outside of the performing environment.

“The reason for buddies is so that the two fine arts groups can become closer and create a bigger community within Bowie,” Folkers said. “It also allows for Silver Stars and band members to get to know each other better individually and create more connections between the groups.”

Folkers believes that making sure they are close is one of the most important aspects of their connection. Because of the fact that they perform together, they must have a close bond.

“Something special about band buddies is that this is only our second year doing them and it has already created more of a bond between the two groups, especially since these two groups work together all the time during football season,” Folkers said.

Buddies not only give the teams a chance to get to know each other better, but also work to commend each other for all of their hard work.

“I enjoy that we’re able to compliment what they’ve worked so hard on, with the thing that we love,” Bloder said “It’s also really impressive to be a group producing so much sound and have the best dang high school drill team in Texas be our main event.”

While being part of one of these organizations, members like Bloder believe they gain skills and habits that they will carry on in the future.

“Band has given me a sense of comradery, and I think most importantly an understanding of responsibility that I think will be so critical to the rest of my life,” Bloder said.

EXCHANGING GIFTS: Senior band member Ben Thollander and senior Silver Star Keira Folkers participate in the Silver Star and band buddies system. The goal of this initiative is to build a stronger bond between the two groups, who often perform together. PHOTO BY Sammie Thompson

CHOIR GROUP HARMONIZING: The choir group sings and performs in their first concert of they year. They experience new challenge such as social distancing, singing with masks on, and coming back after a year off. PHOTO BY Austin Ikard

Choir group gets back to their groove post-pandemic

The singing organization performs at their fall concert with new in-person adaptations

Emily Loewe Dispatch Reporter

Bowie’s choir group has been gearing up for the first choir concert back in person on Sept. 30, and they have hours of after-school practice to show for it. The choir concert was held in the Bowie cafeteria where they all performed nine songs together.

The concert started at 7 p.m. and showcased the work that the choir students have put in since the beginning of the school year. While the concert occurred in late Sept., preparation for the event started much earlier.

“We started rehearsing for the concert probably the third week of school, I would say when we first got our music,” junior Maddie Tapia said. “We’ve had in-class rehearsals and after-school rehearsals since then.”

This year the choir students are adjusting to being back in person. As they transitioned from turning in online submissions to being able to sing with the people around them, they were simultaneously preparing for the Fall Concert.

“We weren’t really thinking about the music when we were virtual, whereas when you’re in person, or in concert you have to listen to the people around you and your entire section, making sure that you’re all doing the same thing,” junior Grace Harrison said. “It’s more mental work than just reading and submitting it.”

Although adapting to being back in person has brought new changes, numerous hours of practice has left them well prepared to face them.

“We’re a little bit nervous but I think it’s going to come together,” Harrison said. “I think the biggest thing is remembering to look at the director. I mean you know the music because you’ve been doing it for so long that you can do it without looking at the director, but then it kind of messes up the whole rhythm.”

Over the 2020-2021 school year the choir group produced one virtual concert, to do this they had to each record their individual parts of the song, then their teacher Aaron Bourgeois blended their voices together with editing.

“We had a virtual performance last year, but it was recorded, so we weren’t sitting there reading the music or anything,” Harrison said. “It was a really cool, fun experience that you can be like, ‘oh yeah, we did a virtual concert.’ But when you look at it you realize that is nowhere near how good we could have been if we were in person.”

For the incoming and returning members of choir, there has been a big change since last year’s virtual school year.

“Being able to hear other people singing with me, so it’s not just me in my bedroom, and really having all the parts come together, makes it feel more real,” junior Olivia Watt said.

The choir students acknowledge the positive effects being back in person has had for them and their performance in choir.

“Now you can’t fake certain things that he might not have heard and couldn’t tell you because we were online,” Tapia said. “Some people sing more confidently with other people around too, which we couldn’t do.”

This concert is the beginning of countless other choir concerts that the choir students will participate in this school year. “It’s like we’re getting back into things and starting over,” Harrison said.

The impacts of COVID-19 are prominent in new adjustments made for the choir group just as they are for all of Bowie. The students and their teacher, Bourgeois, are working around new obstacles.

“We always wear masks, and we try to social distance but we’re in the portables so it’s kind of hard to,” Watt said. “The masks are kind of weird, but it’s not that bad.”

While the effects of COVID-19 were obvious for all of Bowie, the extra work and time the choir group had spent practicing was shown at their first concert in person since the 2019-2020 school year.

“I’ve met a lot of friends in choir, I guess it made me be able to express myself in a different way,” Tapia said.

Many members believe that choir fosters an environment where students feel comfortable and excited to learn more.

“I’m actually learning something new, and it’s exciting because I think I’m going to do choir in college as well,” Harrison said. “I took choir freshman year and I fell in love with the teacher, the classes, and the people. It’s really like a family.”