The 2025 Pride of Paoli (POP) season kicks off shortly. The season started on April 4, when the show theme was announced.
The 2025 POP show theme is “The Ties That Bind.” The theme shows how the whole POP is a family and how closely they work together. POP members spend countless hours together in the heat during the summer and many cold days together in the fall. Without working together, POP would not be as successful as it is. This is what POP is trying to convey through the theme.
The Pride of Paoli is led by its two drum majors, junior Cannon Lambdin and freshman Vanessa Thacker. These two members were the drum majors last year as well.
“We also have a lot of great student leaders in all of our sections who I have no doubt are going to do a really good job of leading the younger members and helping teach them,” said Band Director Christian Karkosky.
This upcoming year’s show is different from the past year’s “Inside the Circle” show due to the music being all original this year, it is all custom-written and never heard before.
The first marching band event for the new show was rookie camp. Rookie Camp concludes today.
At Rookie Camp, members learned the basics of marching, how to stand and hold instruments or flags. This was held so new members could meet their leaders and make new friends. Students who attended Rookie Camp can be more prepared when summer events come around, friendships are already made and members know the basics to get through band camp and summer rehearsals.
“We had some great momentum last year, and we are going to keep that momentum going this year. We hope to improve the experience and performance of the band,” said Lambin.