WMHS WARRIOR MARCHING Band 2024 Champions! (Laura DeGiacomo Photo)
WAKEFIELD — It was with a mix of exhaustion and emotion that The Wakefield Warrior Marching Band closed out their season on Sunday evening earning their highest score yet this year and an undefeated record to close out 2024. Wakefield Public Schools Visual and Performing Art Director Tom Bankert says the students never rested even when they were winning…“They fought for their wins.”
Wakefield scored a 96.76 in the Fall Finals, a platinum score from the New England Scholastic Band Association (NESBA). It was the first time in over a decade that the Warrior Marching Band has won back-to-back NESBA Championships. Along with the first-place finish the band also received high caption awards in five areas: Best Music, Best Overall Effect, Best Visual Performance, Best Percussion and Best Color Guard.
“We’re exhausted,” Bankert said on Monday following the win “but the great exhausted, the type of exhaustion that you love because it comes from a place of tremendous physical, mental and emotional effort to accomplish a huge goal”. Drum Major Nick Wedemeier said he was surprised at how much work people were willing to put in “It would have been so much easier to settle for something lesser, but seeing the energy that everyone put in was galvanizing.”
The Warriors beat out six other bands in their division topping Ashburnham’s Oakmont-Overlook which took second place with a score of 94.84.
Wedemeier says that seeing the band members talking, sharing, and eating together makes him happy “It highlights the type of community that the band fosters.” After the final scores were read and awards given out, a swarm of black fleeces ran onto the field of Lawrence High School, where the event was held as all 73 band members of the Wakefield Warrior Marching Band joined together to hoist the championship trophy and sing the song “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations, as they do after every competition.
It was a sweet send-off to the band’s seniors who ended their time on the highest notes. Best of luck to you all Nick Wedemeier, Gwyn Buckley, Matt Burton, Sam Carpenter, Owen Kelley, Juliana Meziane, Molly McGee, Zacchaeus Zivan, Kristof Lock Zanzotto, Brendan Lynch and Thomas Berinato. Thanks for the great season!
