The crowd roars as the drumline plays their entrance cadence.

"Go D-H-S!" 190 of us shout as we make our way through the tunnel and out onto the football field.

Perfect posture, intstruments perpendicular to the ground, loud vocals - all things that are running through my mind. The fog machine blows fog into my face, clouding my vision momentarily. Once I can see again, my eyes wander to my "dot". I am completely responsible for being on my dot. If I am off of my dot, even by a foot, the entire form will be off.

Through our pregame performance, I must hit all four of my dots as closely as I can with equal step sizes, a perfect horn angle (parallel to the ground), and all the while playing the right notes at a good volume. There are a lot of things to think about. It was so overwhelming as a freshman in high school, but it comes so naturally now.

This year marks my fourth year in the Dakota Cougar Marching Band. I may not look like it up close — and definitely not on the field — but I am a senior. I can easily be spotted out in the flute section. I am fairly sure I am the shortest person in the entire band — maybe even the entire school.

I learned a lot from being in marching band that one might not expect at first. A lot of work comes behind our halftime show performances and parades. Every Monday and Wednesday afternoon/evening is spent fixing every little detail to improve ourselves. That doesn't include band camp. Two weeks back to back were used to drill every "dot" into our heads.

Being in marching band prepared me for the real world. I learned a lot about determination. No matter how hard it seemed to remember ten different things at once, I learned to push through it. The tangible reward came later through first division trophies and medals. However, it was almost more rewarding to know how well the performance went, just by the feeling in my heart. Being able to walk across the field after finishing a show knowing well how amazing the group did was an unexplainable feeling. Even though we are arguably the most self-critical people when we watch our show over on YouTube, it is great to know that we performed to the best of our ability.

Marching band also taught me commitment and time management. There weren't many valid excuses to not be at rehearsals, competitions, football games, and parades. If I had a prior commitment, we were to let our director know as soon as possible or we faced the punishment of not preforming in the next event. We all signed up to be after school for three hours after school practicing for the next time we show what we've been up to. We learned the phrase "early is on time; on time is late." It was pounded into our brains. I was never late to a rehearsal in fear of having to run a lap as punishment.

It sure did remind me what discipline meant. The more we wasted our time talking during rehearsal, the longer it became. If we continued to play or march past the point we were given, we would have to repeat it that many more times until it was perfect. Not memorizing drill and music became not only a personal issue, but a problem for the enitre group. The whole band suffers if you do not practice your instrument or remember where you move to at what time.

I learned how much teamwork meant for the band. In my first year, I was so focused on getting to wear I needed to be. I didn't realize that it would effect anyone else. In a standard line formation, every person has to be at the same interval horizontally and vertically throughout the move. It takes more than one person to make a line. Everyone has to give 101% to being the best we can be. There is a tremendous amount of satisfaction felt when we all come together, working as hard as we can with each other, and preforming together. In marching band, there is no goal to really "beat" anyone. Our competitions are strictly for our own improvement. We use every judgement to our own abilities to get better at what we do. We cheer on other bands, even when they rank a higher score than we do.

Most importantly, I made friends. As lonely as I might've felt these past four years, I knew that 190 peoples had my back. I looked forward to screaming until I lost my voice in the stadium stands every other Friday night. I loved being part of something so big and influental. Without the band at a football game, it would be pretty boring. You'd be missing out on a lot of cheering and screaming. We use our strength in numbers to create a massive amount of noise that distracts the opposition from hearing their next play. We fuel the fire for our football players and encourage our student section to cheer on.

This Friday was my last football game as a marching Cougar, and it felt so amazing to end our "Friday Night Lights" themed show with "We are the Champions" by Queen. With tears in my eyes, I reminisced about the amount of time and effort, the blood, sweat, and tears that went into being a part of the marching band. I've improved myself as a person and am prepared for life after high school, just by making one decision...to join.