After the UIL Region 24 competition on Oct. 18, the Prosper Mighty Eagle Band is set to continue on the road to state this week on Oct. 25. 

The Prosper band received all first divisions at the region competition, earning a sweepstakes along with 21 other bands. To advance to area, each band had to receive a sweepstakes, with all bands other than JV proceeding.

During the band’s performance, rain started at the beginning and continued throughout other bands’ shows.

“When I was preforming, I felt the rain blinding me yet all I could think was how fun it was,” junior Aaliyah Caldwell said. “What was less fun was the wet costumes and flags afterwards.”

Despite this, the show went on per usual, with electronics (mics, sound systems, and pit) having to unplug right before they began.

“As far as the energy, the rain made everything way more high,” Percussion Coordinator, senior Kenna Boyd said. “It felt like a once in a lifetime experience, especially because not all of our instruments are supposed to get wet and a lot of us never performed in the rain.”

After the performance, percussion were to dry their instruments to ensure that there was no erosion that occurred afterwards with no damage to the instruments. The props that were used were also laid out in the band practice rooms to dry along with tubas and guard flags. Many things dried in on the way back to the school and were left to dry over the weekend. Volunteers from the band’s leadership, along with tubas and the pit, came back today to dry and put away everything they needed for rehearsal.

“Honestly, when it started raining, I wasn’t too sure how it would end,” junior Emma Correll said. “But overall, the rain only made our show better. Personally, I think that was the coolest run we’ve ever had. I have a lot of hope for area, we’ve been improving every single week and we just keep getting better. So yeah, I think we’re going to do amazing and I’m super happy and proud of where we are right now.”

Woodwinds were impacted the ‘most,’ with instruments needing to be immediately put away and dried once the performance concluded in order to save their instruments from permanent damage.

“At first I was scared, in total we have six woodwind soloists plus about 72-74 woodwind marchers, and our instruments get damaged easily by water,” Flute Captain Emily Nottingham said. “As soon as I saw Katie-Lynn’s hands go up, all that fear went to the back of my mind and I told myself, ‘it’s showtime, we have a job to do and the rain is not going to stop me,’ and as a result, I feel like [the band] had an amazing run regardless of the weather.”

This week, the Mighty Eagle Band will continue on its journey to state by competing this Friday at Area J, with their preliminary performance at 4:30 p.m. at the McKinney ISD Stadium. After the announcements for preliminary performance results, the earliest time for a finals performance is at 7:45 p.m. and finals performance results will be announced around 10:45 p.m. To advance to state, the band will need to make fourth or above. The band has received much of their help from parent volunteers with props, food, pit crew, loading and unloading and more.

“The parents make such a difference in our performances and especially this one with the rain,” senior Micah Hudson said. “For almost the entirety of our playing for pit, they crouched in the rain holding tarps so the speakers and sound wouldn’t get wet then stayed behind a bit long to make sure they were dried and not too badly damaged. They are literally the best.”

Though their results aren’t certain, the band and directors feel very confident on where their band is with the show and what their chances at area are.

“Our UIL Region Competition was so surreal,” Head Drum Major Katie-Lynn Sepper said. “Although we performed in the rain, it brought a different level of focus to the band and storytelling throughout our performance. With our area competition approaching this weekend, I feel hopeful if we put in the work and energy throughout our rehearsals this week, we can create something special.”

This article was edited by Kate Duncan, Aarushi Rana and Yousuf Ali