When people typically hear "Marching Band" the images that come to mind aren't always very flattering. A group of "nerds" who play bad music, walk slowly around a field and do nothing but tell horrible jokes and expect for marching band to be considered a sport.

Let me just say, those common ideas are so far from right, they're out of this world.

I am an extremely proud member of the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Whitewater Marching Band. This group has become something of a crazy, dysfunctional, loyal family who has welcomed me with open arms. My section is my family and some of my closest friends, the band itself is like a machine. Without every single person on the field, we don't work as well and there's pieces missing. We, as a band, create a beautiful whole of music and motion. We're artists who just happen to spend most of our time sweaty and wandering around asking for water.

I've been a part of marching band in general for about seven or eight years now. I started off small, just marching parades with my middle school band. Albeit we were one of the top bands in the state for our age and we won countless competitions. That's where my love for this crazy sport started. Being outside, playing my instrument and playing fun songs with people who loved band just as much as I was magical. It made me see just how valuable music was. Through a lot of my youth, I struggled with anger issues and finding friends. Throughout marching band, I found myself more at ease, happier and I was making friends. I had found a place in this world where I was accepted one hundred percent.

Fast forward a few years to my freshman year of high school. I had been marching parades for three years and then my band director opened my eyes to the most amazing, life changing experience I will possibly ever have. I was introduced to the wonder of competitive summer marching band. In

In Wisconsin, there's a relatively small circuit called MACBDA which for me was four groups all competing against each other with a field show instead of a parade. Basically, starting in January you work for hours learning the basics of marching, learning and memorizing music and working out so that you're in top shape. Once summer rolls around, that's when the real fun begins. I spent every single day from 9AM to 9PM or later practicing music and doing the most hardcore, intense exercise routine of my life all for one purpose. To go out onto a football field and marching an amazing show like no other. Now for those of you who don't know what DCI is or even marching a field show, I suggest you Youtube that because it is mind blowing. Anyways, I digress.

So my freshman year I joined an amazing group called the Lighthouse Brigade of Racine and from that day, nothing has been the same. This was a group that intensified my love of music, gave me more inspiration to become a teacher and it shaped me to become a better person. I learned the values of patience, hard work, dedication. I learned that nothing good comes easier in particular. When you're working on a show, it is not going to be an easy ride where putting in the barest minimum of effort will suffice. No, in this band as well as my high school marching program, you had to give 110% all of the time otherwise the show and the message we were trying to get across was never going to work. I can say without a doubt that by being a part of this organization, I have become a stronger, smarter, more organized and more determined individual. I don't quit when things get hard and I have been able to advance more as a musician by being a member of the Lighthouse Brigade.

As a last anecdote to the influence marching band has had on myself and my life, I want to share my experience with the Warhawk Marching Band here at UW-Whitewater. Moving in early to be a part of this band was nerve-wracking for me. I was so nervous that I wouldn't have any friends, it would be extremely difficult music and drill and I would just be a total failure.

Let me tell you, I couldn't have been more wrong.

This group, this amazing family has been one of the greatest experiences I can describe. It helped with the transition from high school to college, I instantly had a mini family of eleven people that I could count on no matter what and I had a purpose to work towards. That was possibly the best thing that I could have gained by joining the Warhawk Marching Band. I started college early on knowing that I needed to be dedicated and ambitious. I knew that I couldn't flake out, skip a rehearsal, or just not do the work assigned to me. I needed to be on top of things 100% in order to be successful, not just as a marcher but as a college student trying to be successful. The support, advice, and knowledge I've gained by knowing the instructors and other students in the band has truly shown me what it means to #BleedPurple and be #PoweredByTradition. Two simple phrases that define the Warhawk Marching band and in turn have come, in my opinion, to define the way I want to be. As a freshman, I already know that I have to work hard, study hard and practice hard to stay ahead. I learned that the first day of band camp when my section leader handed us our music. I am a part of the Warhawk tradition, and I plan on carrying that throughout college, and the rest of life as a music educator.

To make a long story very short, marching band is a sport that can change lives, inspire hopes and help individuals accomplish dreams. It teaches not just "8 to 5's" and roll stepping, but the basics of how to make it in this go-getter esque world. By being a member of marching band, you give yourself the chance to become someone better and bigger than yourself. To become dedicated, hard working, ambitious and a team player.

Marching band makes a difference in every facet of life, why not open yourself up to the idea, and gain a family along the way.