(Geronimo) — The Navarro High School Panther Band is keeping its eye on the prize.
With a community sendoff planned for Wednesday morning, the Navarro High School marching band is preparing to take the field among the best Class 4A bands in Texas for its first state marching band appearance since 2021. The band has made this trip six times in its program history.
Students, families and supporters are expected to line the front drive of Navarro High School for a formal sendoff at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Community members are invited to come out and shown their support as students make their way to the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The band is scheduled to perform at 4 p.m. in the University Interscholastic League Class 4A State Marching Band Contest.
Jason Adam, director of fine arts and head band director Jason Adam, says the trip represents an exciting milestone for a program that has spent months preparing for this opportunity.
“We started our season back at the end of July and with our summer trainings and then starting the school year with a really ambitious show for the kids, pick some really challenging music and some marching drill and visual design. And the kids have really stepped up this year where our band has grown. We’re about 40 percent bigger than we were last year,” said Adam.
He says his year’s production, titled “November Reign,” was inspired in part by the rock song “November Rain” by Guns ‘N Roses.
“It’s kind of a play on words with the song November Rain, that was sort of like an 80s rock song. It’s a royal twist on that. We have these thrones and crowns and it’s kind of a twist on that. It’s all about you know, raining in November, being our best at this time of year when we get to November, having a winning mentality and being the best that that we can possibly be,” said Adam.
Adam says he is proud of the students who have embraced this very challenging production.
“The kids really bought in and just worked hard and every day, they just came back and wanted to be a little bit better,” said Adam.
Navarro is among the 28 Class 4A bands competing in state – that’s 28 from approximately 220 schools in the division. The Panthers will be the second-to-last band to perform this afternoon.
Following the performances, UIL officials are expected to announce the 10 bands advancing to the state finals. Those finalists will then return to the field later that evening to compete for the state championship.
Adam says the opportunity to perform at the Alamodome has energized the students and credits the district and community for helping make the trip possible.
“We had an outpouring of community support and our district is extremely supportive of us going to this next level, but we do have a donation drive out there. If anybody checks out our Navarro Band on social media on Facebook or the band boosters, there’s a donation drive. We’re always looking to to raise some extra funds to to help with the additional expenses of these kind of events. But, we just appreciate if anybody wants to come out to the sendoff or anybody wants to come check out the contest,” said Adam.
Those unable to attend the competition in person can watch the performances through a livestream available on the UIL website.
