Hazel Park Vikings Make it to State Marching Band Competition
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Oct. 31, 2014)
The 58 students of the Hazel Park Viking Marching Band started the beginning of the year with the end in mind, full of focus and directed toward the goal of putting on a fantastic show. With a new sense of determination, and organization, the students have accomplished something that hasn’t been done in 15 years – they made it to the state finals!
Director Bradley Elstone said the team took a Steven Covey kind of attitude toward success. “These students will get a golden opportunity to reap their reward that “hard work, dedication, and perseverance breeds personal satisfaction,” and no matter the outcome, they can feel good in knowing they have given their all to accomplish a team goal,” Elstone said. The teens will show off their teamwork and talent on Saturday when they perform on Ford Field in Detroit along with eleven other teams from across Michigan.
“The key to our success the year started last year,” Elstone said. “We focused on parent, school staff and administrative support. Likewise, this year we set high standards for the students and started our show design with the end in mind. We had seven students leave us this year because they were not willing to raise their level of expectations. This along with support from our parents and administration has been a vital part of the program here at HPHS.”
Their performance, called “Hide and Seek” is a whimsical journey of ethereal melodies chased by war-like drums, amazingly choreographed to keep the audience – and the judges – looking for the one girl who can never get any sleep.
Winning is not important, and in fact not-winning is often the lesson when there are dozens of schools across the state competing. “I believe that band teaches young students how to fail. In today’s society, and especially in our test driven school culture, students are not provided the correct environment to learn how to fail, self-evaluate, and retry making the necessary adjustments on the next rep,” Elstone said. ““I am especially proud of the amount of growth witnessed throughout the season and look forward to their performance at Ford Field.” He said that the students, parents, staff, design team and administration all had their hand in making this a successful year for the Vikings.
Other Oakland County schools included in the State competition include: Farmington, Ferndale and Lamphere (Madison Heights).
Keep up with the latest from the HPHS bands at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hazel-Park-Bands/148708961819498.