Photo Gallery Wakeland Band members accept 4th place award at UIL State Marching Competition.

The award-winning Wakeland Band does more than just play music and march. The Wakeland Band packs and loads together, checks each other to make sure no hair is touching a collar as they prepare to take the field, and after they pack and reload to head out after the game, they usually still hang out together eating pizza and having fun. That’s what bands do. But this band began four years ago without any history or traditions. Perhaps four years of being part of a new high school band and working beside each other forged a bond that has led this band to be so competitive. The Seniors in the band are the freshmen who began in that first summer band practice in 2006. This is their last year as a band to make history. And they have.

On November 3, 2009 at the Alamodome, the Wakeland Band earned 4th place in the UIL AAAA State Marching Band Contest, 3 years and 3 months after the band was organized.  The 2009-2010 Wakeland Band has set a standard for future generations of performers to strive to meet.

Director Gerry Miller has also been with this band for four years. He found the whole State Marching Band Contest experience for his students to be remarkable and inspiring. He knows a chance to compete at State doesn’t come to all bands – even very, very good bands.

“The experience of performing at the prestigious UIL AAAA State Marching Band Contest in only our fourth year was so inspiring. The countless hours of preparation that were involved in coordinating this performance - from students, parents, staff members, administrators, bus drivers, and truck drivers - made the event very meaningful. As we waited to enter the competition field,the students and I discussed that this experience would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for many of them to make their musical mark on the State Marching Band Contest. The ensemble existed, with these students performing that show, for only a few more hours, and the students rose to the occasion, creating a performance that they and their parents will remember forever,” Miller said.

Director of Fine Arts Daryl Trent built the original band program at Frisco at a time when he had to go out and beg students to join band. The honors that various FISD bands have received over the past few years are very personal to him. He congratulated Miller and the Wakeland Band and shared these thoughts with other FISD administrators, “WHS went into finals competition in 7th place and moved up to 4th, just behind 3 perennial powerhouses. I can not tell you how many administrators, directors and friends commented on the quality of the WHS Band’s performance. Both the Preliminary and Finals performances by our students were wonderfully proud moments for me.”

Trent noted that there is “such great work going on across the FISD Fine Arts Department. An amazing collection of talented students and dedicated teachers is evident by the quality of performances that fill the Fine Arts Calendar. The accomplishments of the Wakeland Band this week over the course of the season are a great example of the quality work that goes on in FISD from kindergarten to high school in all nine FISD Fine Arts Departments. We celebrate with the State Finalists, but share the recognition as a quality department that is always striving to give our students the very best Fine Arts experiences each class-every day, every performance and every contest ,”

Tanner Jones and Meghan Rayburn are both WHS band vice presidents. They both see the Wakeland Band has set an early standard to be maintained by those who follow them for years to come.

“This organization of over 180 individuals has worked harder than anyone I've known in my life. The best part is that, through our performance, we've not only started a tradition of excellence at Wakeland, but we have honored our campus, alumni, and the City of Frisco,” Jones said. His co-vice president Rayburn says she thinks the bond the Wakeland band has formed will last long after high school.

Kate Klontz, the drum major, is aware of the finality of winning state – the excitement and the sadness of knowing this was her last year with the band. She knows that there is more to do this year but the big moment for her has already happened – this is how she expressed her thoughts about the state competition “At the end of the night, once the Alamodome was cleared, the trucks were loaded,and all performers were back on the buses, we celebrated everything that we had been through as a band family. Within those moments, everyone sighed and suddenly, we all realized that in our own way, we had changed the world in a small way.With everything this program has been through, I have never been more honored to call myself a member of the Wakeland High School Band.”