Purple Eagle band wraps up season with 1st place at Nunda

​Provided photo: Arella Ives, center, and the Purple Eagles Marching Band perform at Nunda on Saturday evening. Arella was picked as one of the band’s drum majors for next season.

Staff Reports Posted 19 June 2017 at 7:09 am

ALBION – The Albion High School Purple Eagles Marching Band persisted through 90 degree temperatures on Saturday to close-out the 2017 season in winning style at the Nunda Fun Days Grand Parade, with a 1st place score of 95.7.

Earlier in the season, the band captured 1st place in Open Class at the Seneca Falls Pageant of Bands, and earned the designation “Gold, with Distinction” at the Darien Lake Music Festival.

In addition to the three competitions, the band participated in the Rochester Lilac Festival Parade and the hometown Memorial Day and Strawberry Festival parades this spring.

The band’s show this year was comprised of music from the James Bond movie series, and included soloists Nate Grammatico on alto sax, and Joe Madejski on trumpet.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Taylor Walczak and the Color Guard perform with the band during the Strawberry Festival Parade on June 10 in Albion.

Color Guard Captains were Julie Ives and Mykailah Roberts, and Sierra Chudy was the drum line HP. Leading the marching band this season were Drum Majors Shannon Broda, a senior, and junior Riley Seielstad.

Numerous individual marching band awards were presented at the annual AHS Bands Awards Evening on June 12.  Among them, “Rookie of the Year” went to bass player Victor Benovsky, while 8th grader Alexa Grandy received the plaque for “Most Improved”.

Color guard MVP went to Julie Ives, Matilda Erakare received the MVP award for the drum line, and the winds MVP was Enoch Martin. Sophomore Arella Ives was named overall “Most Outstanding” member, and trombonist Saleya Williams was the recipient of the coveted Director’s Award for marching band.  It was also announced that Arella Ives will join Riley Seielstad as drum majors for the 2018 season.

“It’s been an excellent season,” said Band Director Michael Thaine. “It was a young group, but the kids worked hard, and the entire staff is extremely pleased with their development and progress, from the beginning of winter practices all the way to Nunda.”

The band does its closing formation during the Strawberry Festival.

Five of the seniors in the band also received scholarships during the Class Night awards presentation on Friday.

Evan Steier: AHS Alumni Foundation’s Golden Performance Award, Wayne A. Burlison Memorial Scholarship

Shannon Broda: AHS Alumni Foundation’s Performing Arts Award, Daniel Long Memorial Award

Joe Madejski: Moses Sherman Music Award

Jillian Doyle: Patronski Memorial Award

Freeman Lattin: Wayne A. Burlison Memorial Scholarship

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