The Wildcat Marching Band will get one more chance this Saturday, October 22nd, to polish up their competition program, A Journey in Time, before heading to the New York State Field Band Conference championship arena in Syracuse. It’s a nighttime competition beginning at 5 p.m. at Hampton Stadium, at Hampton Street School in Mineola.  Walt Whitman takes the field at 5:26 p.m.

The band has continued to improve with every competition and Saturday will be the first performance with all props, music and final choreography put together.  “We had an extremely productive week of practice,” said Band Director Greg Modelewski. “It’s a quick turnaround between the Huntington and Mineola competitions which is not a lot of time, however, I am very confident in the students’ ability to perform well.”

This year’s show, A Journey in Time, features a few pop songs fans should recognize that share “time” as a common theme: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce, and Clocks by Coldplay.

The 58 band members have been rehearsing and fine-tuning this program since the beginning of August.  And now, with the added responsibilities of homework and other committments, Modelewski says band members are still putting in the extra time it takes to make their performance the best it can be. “I am most proud of our student leadership, who held additional practices outside our normal rehearsals this week. It’s a testament to their commitment and determination to the band, and the overall culture we have been building for the last several years. To work five months on this show is an incredibly long time and to still have the drive to keep going right until the end motivates us as a staff to do the same!”

Whitman has been coming in a solid second place in competition all season.  Here’s hoping they can kick it up a notch this weekend in Mineola before taking the championship field at Syracuse University on Sunday, October 30th.  Go Wildcats!  Eyes With Pride!!!