From unforeseeable weather to achieving straight superiors the Wesley Chapel Band reaching success. The theme We Are All Mad Here for this season is as crazy as this year has been. The band has made another booming accomplishment under the leadership of the band director, Mr. Luckett.

With the unexpected weather caused rain during our rehearsals, and performances and the Hurricanes took more days away. Students overcame the struggles by holding themselves accountable to practice and making up for the loss of rehearsal time. Like how Jeihlon Lewis, Freshman, said, “it was a really good season, we had our lows then came together and improved immensely.” Mr. Luckett also said it was a “very productive October after September rainy and wet… the group as a whole pushed through and pulled everything together in a short amount of time.”

Following the challenges with the unpredictable weather, this year students themselves had their own experience through the season. Though moments with other students made up for it. Also in the show, there were 3 movements based on the craziest characters from “Alice in Wonderland.” The 1st movement, The Mad Hatter, the 2nd movement/ the ballad, The Cheshire Cat, and the 3rd movement, The Red Queen.

One of those students Hailey Evans, Junior said, “the struggles of this band year were a lot of people didn’t really learn their parts but eventually did at the last minute. This marching has been the best one out of the other two I did. Because of all the memories, I made with my friends… my favorite movement of this show was movement 2 because it was slow and the sound of it was so smooth would make your heart feel the warmth.” Another student, Emily Castaneda, Sophomore, said, “I really enjoyed all of the movements but the one that was like wow is movement 3, I liked how at the beginning you have this music that you can see it’s tying all movements together and then you get at section B with this part that is amazing, and the sets that we had to do were really interesting and fun to do.”

After overcoming the changes in schedule due to the weather the band participated in competitions. They achieved a lot even with the unlikely weather received in Wesley Chapel.

“We did the East Lake Classic over at East Lake High school, Tarpon Spring Outdoor Music Festival, Tarpon Spring High school, and our final performance FBA District 5 Music Performance Assessment,” stated Mr. Luckett. The band got 3rd in their class at East Lake, 4th in their class with all the groups being separated by less than one point at Tarpon Springs, and received straight superior ratings in the MPA.

In MPAs, Music Performance Assessments, there are ratings to assess all areas of performance. Superior, the highest ranking, comparable to the grade “A” and reflects the highest quality possible. Excellent, comparable to the grade “B” and reflects a high level of performance but not worthy of a superior ranking due to minor flaws. Good, comparable to the grade “C” and is awarded for a good performance, but not one that is outstanding. Fair, comparable to the grade “D” and is a performance that shows obvious weakness. Lastly, poor that shows performance needs much more room for improvement. Not only are there ratings in MPAs, but also judges that evaluate sections in each band.

For instance, one of those judges was Mr. Brian Dell, that judges the General Effect on the performance. He states that the performance of the Wesley Chapel Wildcat Band “was one of the finest of the day! They are doing such great work and performing at a high level.” Another judge, MR. Joshua Sall, one of the two music judges, said, “I very much enjoyed their performance. There was much demand placed on the students and they achieved many of those responsibilities that were placed upon them.”

Though not only did the band achieve a superior, but straight superiors. Straight superiors “is the highest possible rating that an ensemble can receive. This means that their performance was achieving all the rubric items at a high level will little to no mistakes,” stated by Mr. Dell.

Getting straight superiors means a lot to Mr. Luckett, the staff, and especially the students. “It was exciting it hasn’t happened in a while where the band has gotten back-to-back straight superiors between years and it was on a personal note it was exciting for me because it was the first time in my career it had happened,” mentioned by Mr. Luckett on his 8th year of teaching and directing the Marching Band. Students also felt similar to Mr. Luckett, like Aliah Holcomb, sophomore, said, “it felt really good to get straight superiors because it showed me that we were all in this together and that we all had the same goals.”

With the rising success of the band, who knows what will happen next year. Some of the students are eager for next year, like Reeve Spitzer, freshman, who said she wishes, “to be able to possibly do the snake more.” The snake is if the football team wins, the band walks the field after the game with follows the leader. Another student enthusiastic for the next year, is Alyssa Terrell, Junior, that hope to “have a good final show to close my high school band career.” Mr. Luckett also said, “we don’t usually reveal our show till the band banquet in May, but things are being planned, it’s a very different approach to a show we have taken in the past, so we are taken some chances and seeing what comes of it, we’re excited.”