Q: What does being a section leader mean to you?

A: “It means putting your group’s needs before your own and working your hardest to keep everyone going.”

Q: How did you become a section leader?

A: “Last year, if you were interested in being a section leader you had to write an essay and have an interview with Mr. Smith, [the band director].”

Q: Why did you want the position of section leader?

A: “Last year, our section, the baritones, was one of the worst and I wanted to try different things from our old section leaders to see if we could be better.”

Q: What have you done to change the section while in this position?

A: “In the summer, we have more Sectionals on our month off; we had six as opposed to three last year.”

Q: Would you go for the position again next year?

A: “Definitely, there are mistakes I made this year, and I want to learn from them. I can make the section better having known that. If they pick someone else to be section leader, they would start at square one like I did, which would not be good.”

Q: What would you improve for next season?

A: “I would start with punishments sooner, like when people weren’t paying attention, instead of threatening laps, I would genuinely make them do laps. Definitely more playing tests, a lot of people did not know their music even late in the season, and that shouldn’t have been something that I have to baby them through but I guess I’ll have to next year.”

Q: What is the hardest part of the position?

A: “At least for this year, it was being an underclassmen, because it was hard to get people to respect you and pay attention to what you are saying, when they are like ‘Oh, she’s just an underclassmen or a sophomore.’ That was probably the worst part, and also people in the section were not motivated, and I can’t make them motivated. So that is really hard too.“

Q: What does being a section leader entail?

A: “Lots of things, like: make sure your section knows their music, make sure they know their body, make sure they know their drill [and] basically making sure they know everything. We also have to do attendance but that’s not a big thing. It’s basically making sure everyone in your section, which is 19 people for me, knows what they are supposed to be doing, and make sure they’re not being stupid. That’s a big one too.”

Q: Was it harder as an upperclassman to be in a role usually filled by an upperclassmen?

A: “Most definitely! Because our upperclassmen did not like to listen to me. I think if I did it again next year, that’s not going to be as much of an issue because I will be a junior. Being an underclassmen was definitely hard. The respect issue was a big deal.”

Q: Will having this position help your future at all?

A: “This will definitely help my future because I want to have my own vet clinic.  That would mean being in charge of everyone who works there. So yes, I definitely think this will help my future. Even if I wasn’t doing that, just knowing how to deal with other people is a good skill to have.”