Warrior Color Guard completes most successful season in years

In the culmination of a successful competitive season, the Warrior Color Guard performed at the Winter Guard Association of Southern California (WGASC) Championships in Huntington Beach on April 22.

WGASC is a non-profit organization with almost 400 units across Southern California that sponsors various high school performances throughout the year, as well as annual winter season Color Guard and Marching Band Open Series competitions and various scholarships. The championship event marks the end of the WGASC winter season, which lasts from December to the end of April.

When the season began, teams entered an evaluation performance that sorted teams into competitive categories. Participating school groups then competed in Open Series events, which are local competitions in which teams performed their routines before a panel of judges. At each event, teams are ranked, scored and given a regional school placement that contributed to an overall school ranking which ultimately determine placement at the championships event.

The Warrior team had its strongest performance in over a decade, with performers scoring first or second place wins at every Open Series event they have participated in.

To prepare for the rigorous competitions, Warrior performers participated in intense biweekly practices that reinforced routines and help maximize precision and minimize errors. According to co-captain Maha Syed, the work ethic of both new and veteran members helped the team strengthen its performances.

“[Although] half our guard is fairly new, [members] have been [practicing] full-on, and they’ve been taking everything seriously,” Syed said. “We are really proud of their [work].”

Furthermore, the team’s distinguished performance is the product of many years of continuous improvement and practice, co-captain Shea Sullivan said.

“We’ve been working really hard to get [our performance] up to a level we can be recognized, not at our school, but at district [levels],” Syed said. “We hope to continue what we’ve been doing [and show that] we’re not just an academic school. We’re also a school that can be recognized for its arts.”