On January 6, Orleans High School held the Tenth Annual Pep Band Invitational. Sixteen southern Indiana schools participated in the event, including Paoli, Perry Central, Austin, Shoals, Crawford County, Borden, South Central, Tecumseh, West Washington and Jennings County. The different bands compete against each other in different classes, similar to marching band, and are scored in music, spirit and their cheerleaders or mascot.
Each band had 20 minutes to perform their set, which must include their school song.
“It is very laid back and a ton of fun,” said Band Director Ben Werne. “In between bands performing, all of the kids from all of the bands do dances on the gym floor. The atmosphere is more of a party for band kids than a competition.”
Before the award ceremony, IU Southeast presented an exhibition performance and was followed by Orleans, the host school, who also did an exhibition performance.
The Pride of Paoli earned best in music and won first place in their class, AAA.
Story by Rebekah Reeves