Westfield Marching Band Excels in National and State Competitions

The Westfield Board of Education, at its November 27 public meeting, recognized the many achievements of the Westfield High School Marching Band, which has concluded the 2012 season with great distinction. 

The band’s accomplishments included a most recent competition in the A-Class Nationals in Annapolis, Maryland where they placed 20th overall out of 49 bands around the country. Remarks that were made by one of the judges at the Annapolis competition describe the impression made by the band (www.westfieldhsbands.org/).

In the New Jersey State Championships they were awarded 8th place out of a total of 69 bands. And in their group competition, they came in 4th, also winning for Best Percussion. A special Cadets Award of Excellence was presented to the band in recognition of their creativity, performance and overall effect. Only 6 are awarded in the entire state. 

In earlier regional competitions, the Marching Band placed first in their group in the East Brunswick and Hillsborough competitions. In these as well as the Piscataway competition, they also received special awards for being Best in Music, Visual, Percussion and Overall Effect.

Board of Education President, Richard Mattessich, stated, “The Westfield Board of Education is very proud of these students, who through hard work and many hours of practice, are recognized for their superior achievements.”

There are over 85 members in the Westfield Marching Band. The section leaders of the band and color guard are: (Seniors) Michael Aronson, Rob Cassie, Jonathan Clancy, Andrew Dougert, Maria Hershey, Liam Keller, Barrie Knapp, Zoe Korunow, Jeffrey Marino, Eric Mikalauskas, Annalyn Tanella, and Alex Ying; (Juniors) Geneva Gleason, David Gruskin, Samuel Krause, and Matthew Nuzzo.  Certificates of congratulations were presented to the student leaders who were in attendance at the Board meeting and for future distribution to the other members by Band Director Chris Vitale and Assistant Director James Doyle.