Marking time for the Marching Cougar Pride, the drumline entered the gym. The crowd cheered for the band, perhaps more specifically cheered for the drumline.

The drumline has the job of pumping the school up for events and that’s just what they attempted to do the morning of the bonfire. As they marched through the halls, they collected many different reactions from the student body.

“Some of the people are like ‘Oh my gosh that’s really loud, what are you doing?’” drum captain Jessica Kirchner said. “Most people though are really super pumped and they all stand around.”

When marching through the halls and getting people excited at games, the drumline plays cadences. To describe what these are without an exact definition is not an easy task.

“Little, short, peppy tunes to get people pumped up,” Kirchner said.

Not only did the drumline pump up the school with their cadences, but they had the responsibility of leading the band and leading 140 marchers can be a lot of work.

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Kirchner said. “But most of the time it’s really rewarding because we put in so much effort to be able to ‘drive the band’.”

The pressure could be even more intense for a new member of the drumline, but one new marcher showed the Marching Cougar Pride spirit.

“I’m super pumped,” 4th Bass Joshua Plagge said. “I think it’ll be so much fun to play with the battery for the first time at bonfire.”

Spirit and commitment are almost requirements of being on the drumline but requirement or not, these marchers have fun doing it.

“We feel appreciated and loved,” Kirchner said. “I feel that the drumline is a family.”

Written By: Grace Gorenflo and Ben Becker