The Pride of Paoli finished their season on Saturday, November 9, placing third at ISSMA Class D State Marching Band Finals. Scoring first place for Class D was Lewis Cass High School, and second place was Knox Community High School. This season the band was directed by Christian Karkosky, and was also led by two drum majors, freshman Vanessa Thacker and junior Cannon Lambdin.
In an email to band members, parents, and staff, Karkosky expressed his appreciation towards the band community.
“We are so proud of you for accomplishing the highest placement for the band at State Finals since 2018,” said Karkosky.
The band included seven seniors this season: Connor Bowman, Arah Brinkman, Lainee Cox, Ava Green, Christian Longest, Rylee McKenna, and Jacob Young.
The band led a successful season, earning first place in every competition leading up to the State Finals.
“This amazing group of kids looked adversity and challenges right in the eye and said bring it on! The whole season they never stopped believing and working for the staff, the parents, and for each other. They made history during the ISSMA season, at Bands of America, and earned the highest State Finals ranking for The POP since 2018. They bounced back from 10th in 2023 to 3rd in 2024! A tough task to accomplish, but for them it was what we had been working for since day one,” said Karkosky.
Although the season has come to an end, there are already plans in place to improve going forward.
“We will be back next year and will continue to prove why Paoli is called The Pride,” said Karkosky.