This year the Highlander Marching Band won the championships at Wayne Hills. This was such an astonishing accomplishment for the Marching Band as they have been defeated by West Orange in all the other competitions prior to the championships. The Marching Band members see themselves as a great big Highlander family.

“We worked really hard the weeks coming up to it and it was just cool to see how we can work hard and get benefits from it. It all comes together to form one big show. We’ve always been competitive with West Orange. It was good for the seniors to leave their last competition on a good note,” said Leah Lindstrom.

Their show was titled “Excalibur” which included songs such as “Carmina  Burana” by Carl Orff, “Solas Ane” by Samuel R Hazo, and “Tempered Steel” by Charles Young. The Marching Band won best marching band, best music performance, best overall effect, and first place group 4A.

The last championship they won was back in 2010. Besides the championships, the Highlanders won the Randolph competition for ten consecutive years from 2004-2012.

“It’s really awesome to be part of something bigger than yourself. You’re only one person in a ninety something person band and all you could do is your best. That night everyone did their best and put their heart out on the field.”

The Highlander Marching Band has been practicing since June of 2013 until October,26, 2013 the day of the big championships.

“I’m very proud of the students who perform in band with color guard for doing an outstanding job at championships throughout the entire season. We all put a lot of hard work into it and the effort has paid off through their dedication,” Mr. Shaver noted.

“The Highlander band has been a family for the past four  years. It’s kind of sad that it’s over, but I’m really thankful for the memories that I have,” Ed Looney stated. They really are proud to be a part of big family that takes care of each other.

“We worked really hard at it and we practiced non stop. We really believed in ourselves to eventually win the championships. No feeling felt better than that,” said Stephen Shahin.

The Highlander Marching Band practices very hard, even more so than the football team. They practice from right after school to late at night and even on weekend mornings. They are truly a dedicated band and show how hard they have worked with accomplishments such as this.

Of course, not only is West Milford proud to be represented by a champion band, but their directors and instructors are proud as well. “It was the kind of performance that comes from a whole season of really hard work. It was really a combination of every bit of effort from the beginning of band camp to what was clearly their best performance,” said Dr. McLaughlin.

The Highlander Marching Band will not march again until next school year and will continue to try hard to win the championships again.