by Corgan Petersen

The acronym SWIHBA stands for Southwest Iowa Honor Band Association. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, many students didn’t have school throughout Southwest Iowa.  However, around 200 students from Southwest Iowa met at Atlantic High School to rehearse for their honor band concert that night.

Auditions were held in Dec. at Atlantic High School.  The students auditioned for the bands based on their grades.  There was a band for students in grades nine and 10 and a band for students in grades 11 and 12.  Students selected from Atlantic for the 9-10 band included: freshmen Rebekah Hallman and Josh McLean and sophomores Katie Darrow and Nadia Somers. Those selected for the 11-12 band were as follows: juniors Emily Yager, Seth Schulte, and Corgan Petersen and seniors Ben Parker and Justin Somers.

The students started their first rehearsal at 9 am. They took a lunch break a few hours after, then returned to the high school to continue practicing.  At 4:30 pm they took their supper break.  At 7 pm, the 9-10 honor band took the stage and performed.  In between bands, the Southwest Iowa Band Association handed out the Young Band Director Award.  Then the 11-12 band started their performance, but midway through they took a break to award three scholarships to students in the honor band.  Also, the students who had made the honor band all six years, from grades 7-12, were recognized.

Great job to everyone who was selected to participate in this honor band.