I was pretty dorky in high school, and my favorite part of it was being part of the band. During the fall it would be marching season, and we would travel via bus to all kinds of competitions. We were never a great contender, but we always had fun. The biggest festival of the year had a Top 10. If your band placed in there, you'd get a chance to order a cool sweatshirt with your school's name and place on there.
During my Junior year, the highest the school had ever placed was like 8th place like 20 years prior. They also changed it so that the Top 10 bands would be able to perform a second time to be put in their final places. When we were announced as a Top 10 band we went nuts. We hurriedly got ready for our second performance and it was amazing. Shortly after, we had to stand on the field for the final place announcements, and we got to interact with the other Top 10 bands. We were all friendly and just happy we were there. So the announcer began announcing the schools from 10th place down. With every place they announced and our school wasn't called, we'd all get a little more excited. We ended up placing 5th and after the ceremony we just cheered and ran around the field with members from other schools. I remember sitting down on that brightly lit field thinking about how I would never forget that moment.
So yeah, band was the biggest thing for me in high school. Everything I did revolved around it.
