On Saturday, October 26 Burke High School’s marching band competed in the NSBA state marching band competition, performing their show “Journey through the event horizon” for the last time in competition.

With senior speeches and last rehearsals of the season, members head out to Millard South for the last hurrah. For the morning of state, the band preps with a morning rehearsal to clean the final tweaks in the show and help make everyone feel more prepared.

“I felt pretty prepared,” Ziannah Grandy said. “We practiced the last movement a lot and had full reps of the show before state.”

With being prepared for their final performance, members of the band await different things as they wait to take field.

“My favorite thing about state is getting to have one final performance as a group and being able to see how far we’ve come since the beginning of our season,” Valerie King said.

Part of showing off their show for the last time means showing off your favorite part of the show.

“I’m really excited to show off the rifle work. Everyone in rifle line worked so much on rifle choreo since the summer,” Grandy said.

With the final run, means seniors last high school marching band show.

“As a senior performing in my last competition, it’s a very bittersweet day,” Sophia Bouman said. “Throughout the whole day, there were many different routines or fun and silly moments that I would realize this would be the last time that would happen.”

After all bands competing have performed it’s time for awards, Burke placed 13th out of 23 bands and with a score of 66.80. The Burke marching band concludes their 2024 season and will move onto concert and winter guard season.

“Overall, I’m sad the chapter is ending but I’m so grateful for all the memories, relationships, and experiences I’ve gained over the past year,” Bouman said.